tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972110575326594342024-03-17T05:59:47.772-07:00The Hermit Rambles!Home of the weekly Stuck in the Psychedelic Era playlistThe Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.comBlogger1173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-87955896849530436192024-03-17T05:58:00.000-07:002024-03-17T05:58:51.039-07:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2412 (starts 3/18/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/521183 </p><p><br /> The emphasis this week, at least in the first hour, is on uninterrupted sets of tunes from a variety of artists. For the second hour we have a new Advanced Psych segment that includes a track from a recently acquired 2012 LP from Ty Segall and White Fence. The hour itself ends with a set of protest tunes that at first sound dated, but somehow still remain relevant.<br /><br />Artist: Turtles<br />Title: It Ain't Me Babe<br />Source: Nuggets Vol. 10-Folk Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Bob Dylan<br />Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)<br />Year: 1965<br /> The Turtles started out as a local high school surf band called the Crossfires. In 1965 they were signed to a record label that technically didn't exist yet. That did not deter the people at the label (which would come to be known as White Whale) from convincing the band to change its name and direction. Realizing that surf music was indeed on the way out, the band, now called the Turtles, went into the studio and recorded four songs. One of those was Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. The Byrds had just scored big with their version of Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and the Turtles took a similar approach with It Ain't Me Babe. The song was a solid hit, going to the #8 spot on the national charts and leading to the first of many Turtles albums (not to mention hit singles) on the White Whale label. <br /><br />Artist: Jefferson Airplane<br />Title: And I Like It<br />Source: CD: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off<br />Writer: Balin/Kantner<br />Label: RCA/BMG Heritage<br />Year: 1966<br /> Jorma Kaukonen was giving guitar lessons when he was approached by Marty Balin about joining a new band that Balin was forming. Kaukonen said yes and became a founding member of Jefferson Airplane. The two seldom collaborated on songwriting, though. One of the few examples of a Balin/Kaukonen composition is And I Like It from the band's first album. The song sounds to me like early Hot Tuna, but with Balin's vocals rather than Kaukonen's.<br /><br />Artist: Cryan' Shames<br />Title: The Sailing Ship<br />Source: LP: A Scratch In The Sky<br />Writer(s): Fairs/Kerley<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1967<br /> If your entire exposure to Hinsdale, Illinois's Cryan' Shames was their 1966 cover version of the Searchers' Sugar And Spice, as I was, you might be surprised to hear their second album, A Scratch In The Sky. Although uneven, the album, written almost entirely by multi-instrumentalist Jim Fairs and bassist/guitarist Lenny Kerley, has some strong songs such as The Sailing Ship that deserve to be heard.<br /><br />Artist: Jethro Tull<br />Title: A Song For Jeffrey<br />Source: CD: This Was<br />Writer(s): Ian Anderson<br />Label: Chrysalis/Capitol<br />Year: 1968<br /> Jethro Tull's second single (and first European hit) was A Song For Jeffrey from their debut LP, This Was. The Jeffrey in the song title is Jeffrey Hammond, who, according to the liner notes, was "one of us, though he doesn't play anything". The notes go on to say he "makes bombs and stuff". In fact, Hammond would replace bassist Glen Cornick a few albums later and remain with the group for several years. The song itself proved popular enough that when the band compiled their first Anthology album, Living In The Past, A Song For Jeffrey was chosen to open the album.<br /><br />Artist: Mandrake Paddle Steamer<br />Title: Strange Walking Man<br />Source: Mono British import CD: Insane Times (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Briley/Engle<br />Label: Zonophone (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1969<br /> Mandrake Paddle Steamer was the brainchild of art school students Martin Briley and Brian Engle, who, with producer Robert Finnis, were among the first to take advantage of EMI's new 8-track recording equipment at their Abbey Road studios. The result was Strange Walking Man, a single released in 1969. The track includes an uncredited coda created by Finnis by splicing a tape of studio musicians playing a cover version of an Incredible String Band tune, Maybe Someday.<br /><br />Artist: Blues Image<br />Title: Take Me<br />Source: CD: Open<br />Writer(s): Blues Image<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1970<br /> The is a story that Jimi Hendrix once told the members of Blues Image that although they had a sound all their own when they performed cover songs at Thee Image, the legendary South Florida club where they were the house band, their own material was lacking a consistent sound. The band's answer to this was to make rough recordings of new songs they came up with then promptly forget about them for awhile. At some point they would pull out an old recording and give it the Blues Image treatment as if it were a cover song. This might explain why a track like Take Me from their second LP, Open, almost sounds like it was recorded live. <br /><br />Artist: Temptations<br />Title: Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Whitfield/Strong<br />Label: Gordy<br />Year: 1971<br /> Just as the Temptations' third single to top the charts, Just My Imagination, was being released, vocalist Eddie Kendricks left the group for a solo career, blaming conflicts with fellow group members Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin for his departure. This didn't sit well with the remaining group members, or with their producers, Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, who responded by writing Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are). Predictably, neither Kendricks or David Ruffin, another former member who had made disparaging remarks about the group, ever achieved the level of success as solo artists that they had as members of the Temptations.<br /><br />Artist: Vanilla Fudge<br />Title: People Get Ready<br />Source: LP: Vanilla Fudge<br />Writer: Curtis Mayfield<br />Label: Atco<br />Year: 1967 <br /> The first Vanilla Fudge LP was all cover songs, done in the slowed-down Vanilla Fudge style that some say was inspired by fellow Long Islanders The Vagrants. People Get Ready, originally recorded by Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, is one of the better ones.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: I Am The Walrus<br />Source: LP: Magical Mystery Tour<br />Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1967<br /> The Beatles' psychedelic period hit its peak with the BBC-TV premier of the surrealistic telefilm Magical Mystery Tour and its subsequent release on vinyl in December of 1967. Musically speaking, the centerpiece of Magical Mystery Tour was John Lennon's I Am The Walrus, which was the final track on both the British EP and side one of the US LP. The second half (more or less) of the piece contains audio from a live BBC radio broadcast that was added during the mono mixing process. At that time, the Beatles were still doing their original mixes in monoraul (single-channel) sound, then doing a stereo mix almost as an afterthought. The addition of live audio into the original mono mix meant that they would be unable to reproduce the process in stereo. So, at the point the BBC audio comes in, the true stereo version of I Am The Walrus suddenly becomes a "fake stereo" recording using techniques such as phasing and panning to create a stereo effect out of the mono mix. It also sounds really strange on headphones, like your sinuses all of a sudden got clogged up.<br /><br />Artist: Tim Buckley<br />Title: Once Upon A Time<br />Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68<br />Writer(s): Buckley/Beckett<br />Label: Rhino <br />Year: Recorded 1967, released 2009<br /> Tim Buckley was one of those people whose style it is almost impossible to define. His first album, consisting of songs he and his friend Bob Beckett had written while still attending high school, was released in 1966 on Elektra Records, and was considered folk music. Before recording a follow-up, Buckley switched gears, recording Once Upon A Time in a deliberate effort to achieve commercial success. Elektra Records chose not to release the song, however, and Buckley soon eased into a more eclectic vein, writing songs that incorporated elements of several genres, including folk, rock and even jazz.<br /><br />Artist: Blues Magoos<br />Title: Gloria<br />Source: Mono LP: Electric Comic Book<br />Writer: Van Morrison<br />Label: Mercury<br />Year: 1967<br /> Although the Blues Magoos are best known for their hit (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet, the band got a lot of airplay on underground FM stations for their extended psychedelic rave up on John D. Loudermilk's Tobacco Road, which had been a hit a couple of years before for the Nashville Teens. Both songs were featured on the band's debut LP, Psychedelic Lollipop. For their second album, Electric Comic Book, the Magoos decided to do a similar treatment on Van Morrison's Gloria, which had been a hit for the Shadows of Knight in 1966. The result was six minutes of pure madness.<br /><br />Artist: Clear Light<br />Title: Black Roses<br />Source: LP: Clear Light<br />Writer(s): Dios/Clear Light<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1967<br /> It's pretty well-known (among Stuck in the Psychedelic Era listeners, at any rate) that the first L.A. rock band signed to Elektra Records was Love, followed a few months later by the Doors. But do you know the name of the THIRD band signed to Elektra? Until a few years ago I had no idea either, but it turns out they were part of the same club scene that included bands like the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the two previous Elektra signings. In fact, one of the members of Clear Light, drummer Dallas Greene, had been a member of Lowell George's legendary band, the Factory (he would go on to greater fame playing with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, among others). The album itself is a rather psychedelic mix of folk, rock, and even classical, with the opening track, Black Roses, being a rather obvious attempt at creating a hit single. Clear Light's vocalist, Cliff DeYoung, went on to become a successful actor, starring in the TV movie (and subsequent series) Sunshine in the mid-1970s and appearing in dozens of TV series since then.<br /><br />Artist: Love<br />Title: Can't Explain<br />Source: Mono CD: Love Story (originally released on LP: Love)<br />Writer(s): Lee/Echols/Fleckenstein<br />Label: Elektra/Rhino<br />Year: 1966<br /> Love's original lineup consisted of bandleader Arthur Lee on vocals, Johnny Echols on lead guitar, John Fleckenstein on bass and Don Conka on drums, with Lee, a prolific songwriter, providing the band's original material. They were soon joined by singer/songwriter/guitarist Bryan MacLean, who gave up his traveling gig as a roadie for the Byrds. Before they completed their first album, however, Fleckenstein and Conka had been replaced by Ken Forssi and Snoopy Pfisterer, although Lee himself provided most of the drums and some of the bass tracks on the LP. Two of the tracks on the album, however, are rumored to have been performed by the original five members, although this has never been verified. One of those tracks is Can't Explain, on which Fleckenstein has a writing credit. The song is certainly one of the band's earliest recordings and captures Love's hard-edged "L.A.-in" take on folk-rock.<br /><br />Artist: Wildflower<br />Title: Coffee Cup<br />Source: British import CD: With Love-A Pot Of Flowers<br />Writer(s): Ehret/Ellis<br />Label: Big Beat (original US LP label: Mainstream)<br />Year: 1967<br /> The Wildflower was somewhat typical of the San Francisco brand of folk-rock; less political in the lyrics and less jangly on the instrumental side. Although Coffee Cup was recorded in 1965, it did not get released until the summer of love two years later on With Love-A Pot Of Flowers, a collection of recordings by a variety of artists on Bob Shad's Mainstream label.<br /><br />Artist: Kinks<br />Title: Waterloo Sunset<br />Source: CD: 25 Years-The Ultimate Collection (originally released on LP: Something Else)<br />Writer: Ray Davies<br />Label: Polygram (original US label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1967<br /> One of the most beautiful tunes ever recorded by the Kinks is Waterloo Sunset, a song that was a hit single in the UK, but was totally ignored by US radio stations. The reason for this neglect of such a stong song is a mystery, however it may have been due to the fear that American audiences would not be able to relate to all the references to places in and around London in the song's lyrics. Then again, it could have been because the Kinks were banned (by the American Federation of Television and Recording Artists) from performing in the US at the time, and so could not effectively promote the song. We'll never know for sure.<br /><br />Artist: Ars Nova<br />Title: General Clover Wins A War<br />Source: CD: Ars Nova<br />Writer(s): Copeland/Day<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: Elektra)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Ars Nova was formed by guitarist/keyboardist Wyatt Day and trombonist Jon Pierson in 1967. The two had known each other in Spain and found themselves attending Mannes College in New York City, where they met drummer Maury Baker, the third core member of the band. Baker in turn introduced the others to lead guitarist Jonathan Raskin and bassist Johnny Papalia, who took over lead guitar duties upon Raskin's departure. With the addition of new bassist Bill Folwell, the lineup was set for the group's first LP, which was produced by Paul Rothchild. Following the release of the LP, Ars Nova found themselves booked as the second opening act for the Doors at the Fillmore East, a gig that was a total disaster, due in part to the first band overstaying their welcome, leading to Ars Nova being booed off the stage before playing a single note. This led to the band losing its contract with Elektra, which in turn led to several personnel changes, a second album for a different label and the eventual demise of Ars Nova. Of course, with songs like General Clover Wins A War, Ar Nova already had an uphill battle building a following among serious rock fans anyway. <br /> <br />Artist: Claypool/Lennon Delirium<br />Title: Breath Of A Salesman<br />Source: LP: Monolith Of Phobos<br />Writer(s): Claypool/Lennon<br />Label: Ato/Prawn Song/Chimera<br />Year: 2016<br /> Fans of alternative rock are no doubt familiar with a band called Primus, led by bassist Les Claypool. One of the more colorful characters on the modern music scene, Claypool was once rejected by Metallica as being "too good" for them. Claypool himself has said that he thought James Hetfield was just being nice when he told him that, but the fact is that Claypool is indeed one of the most talented bass players (if not the best) in rock history. Sean Lennon is, of course, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Unlike his half-borther Julian, Sean has never felt the need to prove anything to anyone, and, thanks in large part to his mother's influence (and let's be honest here, money), has always felt free to pursue his own artistic path without having to bow to commercial pressures. The two of them met when their respective bands were on tour and they immediately recognized that they had a musical connection. That connection manifested itself in the album Monolith Of Phobos (a title inspired by Arthur Clarke's works), released in 2016. This week we check out Breath Of A Salesman, a song about people you really have no desire to hang out with showing up at your door anyway.<br /><br />Artist: Ty Segall/White Fence<br />Title: Tongues<br />Source: LP: Hair<br />Writer(s): Segall/Presley<br />Label: Drag City<br />Year: 2012<br /> Ty Segall is a multi-instrumentalist who played in various underground bands in his native Orange County, California while still in high school. His grunge band, the Epsilons, is noted for a 2007 music video that parodied the MTV show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, which he says ruined his hometown by popularizing the area and driving up the cost of living, making it too expensive for hippies, artists and surfers to live there anymore. In 2008 he embarked on a solo career which has so far resulted in over a dozen albums, singles, EPs and collaborations with other artists. One of those other artists is fellow Californian Tim Presley, who records under the name White Fence. Presley is a veteran of hardcore punk bands such as the Nerve Agents and in 2004 formed the neo-psychedelic band Darker My Love. He has been releasing material under the name White Fence since 2010, including multiple collaborations with Ty Segall, the first of which was Hair, released in 2012. My personal favorite tune from the album is the last track, Tongues, which was co-written by Segall and Presley.<br /><br />Artist: Higher State<br />Title: I Suppose You Like That Now?<br />Source: CD: Volume 27<br />Writer(s): Marty Ratcliffe<br />Label: 13 O'Clock<br />Year: 2016<br /> Formed in the town of Sandgate, Kent in the UK in 2005, the Higher State are one of the best examples of modern garage rock. The group, featuring Marty Ratcliffe on guitar, vocals and organ, Paul Messis on bass and guitar and Scarlett Rickard on drums, has four album's the their credit, including their 2016 release Volume 27. All the tracks on Volume 27 were written by either Ratcliffe or Messis, including this Ratcliffe song with the delightfully snarky title I Suppose You Like That Now? <br /><br />Artist: Seeds<br />Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine<br />Source: Simulated stereo LP: The Seeds<br />Writer: Sky Saxon<br />Label: GNP Crescendo<br />Year: 1965<br /> One of the first psychedelic singles to get played on L.A. radio stations was Can't Seem To Make You Mine. The song, originally released in 1965, was also chosen to lead off the first Seeds album the following year. Indeed, it could be argued that this was the song that first defined the "flower power" sound, predating the Seeds' biggest hit, Pushin' Too Hard, by several months. <br /><br />Artist: Wimple Winch<br />Title: Save My Soul<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Christopholus/Kelman<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Fontana)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Dee Fenton and the Silhouettes were a fairly typical merseybeat band formed in 1961 by Dee Christopholus, a Greek immigrant whose parents had moved to Liverpool in the 1950s. In 1963 they changed their name to the Four Just Men, which became the Just Four Men when they were signed to Parlophone the following year. After a pair of singles failed to make a dent in the British charts EMI (Parlophone's parent company) cut the band from its roster. Rather than disband, the group decided to reinvent themselves as a British counterpart to the many garage bands popping up in the US. Changing their name to Wimple Winch, the group released three singles on the Fontana label, the second of which was Save My Soul, released in June of 1966. All three singles did well in Liverpool but failed to make an impression elsewhere. The group finally decided to call it quits when Fontana dropped them in early 1967.<br /><br />Artist: Electric Prunes<br />Title: Hideaway<br />Source: CD: Underground<br />Writer(s): Lowe/Tulin<br />Label: Collector's Choice/Rhino (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1967<br /> After the moderately successful first Electric Prunes album, producer David Hassinger loosened the reigns a bit for the followup, Underground. Among the original tunes on Underground was Hideaway, a song that probably would have been a better choice as a single than what actually got released: a novelty tune called Dr. Feelgood written by Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, who had also written the band's first hit, I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)<br /><br />Artist: Traffic<br />Title: Feelin' Alright<br />Source: CD: Traffic<br />Writer: Dave Mason<br />Label: United Artists<br />Year: 1968 <br /> Dave Mason left Traffic after the band's first album, Mr. Fantasy, but returned in time to contribute several songs to the band's eponymous second album. Among those was his most memorable song, Feelin' Alright, which would become one of the most covered songs in rock history.<br /><br />Artist: Shadows Of Knight<br />Title: Back Door Man<br />Source: LP: Shadows Of Knight<br />Writer(s): Willie Dixon<br />Label: Super K<br />Year: 1969<br /> By mid-1967 the only original member of the Shadows Of Knight still in the band was vocalist Jim Sohns. Undaunted, Sohns soldiered on, fronting various incarnations of the Shadows until his death in 2022. His professional recording career, however, essentially ended in 1969 with the release of an album called Shadows Of Knight on the Super K label owned and operated by Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz, who had spearheaded the bubblegum pop movement that dominated the top 40 charts in 1968. As expected, the album was far more pop-oriented than Sohns and his new bandmates liked, and they actually instructed co-producers Joey Levine and Arthur Resnick to replace much of the band's own instrumental tracks with those done by studio musicians. The final track on the album, however, seems to be the unedited work by the band itself, a rendition of Willie Dixon's Back Door Man that could be seen as the last gasp of the original garage-rock movement. The Shadows Of Knight did release an album's worth of new material called A Knight To Remember, but it was self-released and it is not known how many copies actually made it to the CD racks.<br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: Foxy Lady<br />Source: LP: The Essential Jimi Hendrix Volume Two (originally released on LP: Are You Experienced)<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: Reprise<br />Year: 1967<br /> 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.<br /><br />Artist: Mad River<br />Title: Wind Chimes<br />Source: Mono British import CD: The Berkeley EPs (originally released as 7" 33 1/3 RPM Extended Play mini-album)<br />Writer(s): Mad River<br />Label: Big Beat (original label: Wee)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Unlike most San Francisco Bay Area bands of the mid to late 1960s, Mad River was already a functioning band when they arrived on the scene from their native Ohio in 1967. The group, consisting of Lawrence Hammond (vocals, bass), David Robinson (guitar), Rick Bockner (guitar) and Greg Dewey (drums, vocals), had been formed in 1965 as the Mad River Blues Band in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where all of the members were attending college. By the time they relocated to Berkeley in early 1967 they had developed a unique style of their own. Once in Berkeley, the band quickly established themselves as one of the most "underground" bands in the area, often appearing on the bill with Country Joe And The Fish. In fact, it was the latter band that inspired Mad River to record an EP later that year. Following an unsuccessful audition for Fantasy Records, Mad River cut a three-song EP for the small Wee label. The entire second side of the disc was a six and a half minute long piece called Wind Chimes. The band recut the track in stereo for their first full-length album (on Capitol) the following year.<br /><br />Artist: Pink Floyd<br />Title: Matilda Mother<br />Source: CD: An Introduction To Syd Barrett (originally released on LP: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn)<br />Writer(s): Syd Barrett<br />Label: Capitol (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Listening to tracks like Matilda Mother, I can't help but wonder where Pink Floyd might have gone if Syd Barrett had not succumbed to mental illness following the release of the band's first LP, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, in 1967. Unlike the rest of the band members, Barrett had the ability to write songs that were not only adventurous, but commercially viable as singles as well. After Barrett's departure, it took the group several years to become commercially successful on their own terms (although they obviously did). We'll never know what they may have done in the intervening years were Barrett still at the helm of the band he co-founded.<br /><br />Artist: Barry McGuire<br />Title: Eve of Destruction<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer: P.F. Sloan<br />Label: Dunhill<br />Year: 1965<br /> P.F. Sloan had already established a reputation for writing songs that captured the anger of youth by the time he wrote Eve Of Destruction, which Barry McGuire took into the top 10 in 1965. It would be McGuire's only major hit, and represented folk-rock at the peak of its popularity. <br /><br />Artist: Janis Ian<br />Title: Society's Child<br />Source: Mono CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released as 45 RPM single) <br />Writer(s): Janis Ian<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Verve Folkways)<br />Year: 1966<br /> 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 "underground" label Verve Folkways, an imprint whose roster included Dave Van Ronk, Laura Nyro and the Blues Project, among others. Despite being banned on several radio stations, especially in the southern US, 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. Ironic, considering that Society's Child ends with the protagonist backing down and giving in to society's rules.<br /><br />Artist: Spirit<br />Title: 1984<br />Source: Mono CD: The Best Of Spirit (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Randy California<br />Label: Epic <br />Year: 1969<br /> One of Spirit's best known songs is 1984, a non-album single released in 1969 in between the band's second and third LPs. Unlike the Rolling Stones' 2000 Man, 1984 was not so much a predictive piece as an interpretation of concepts first expressed in George Orwell's book of the same name. Of course, by the time the actual year 1984 arrived it had become obvious that politics had moved in an entirely different direction than predicted, although some of the mind control techniques described in both the book and song were already being used, while others had to wait until the 21st century to come to pass. <br /> </p><p><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-1941301754796396632024-03-17T05:37:00.000-07:002024-03-17T05:37:29.751-07:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2412 (starts 3/18/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/521181</p><p><br /> There is a pattern in this week's playlist, but I'm going to let you figure out what it is for yourself. Or you could just sit back and enjoy the tunes from artists like Robin Trower, Steely Dan, Janis Joplin, Jethro Tull and more. Your choice.<br /><br />Artist: Grand Funk Railroad<br />Title: Ups And Downs<br />Source: CD: On Time<br />Writer(s): Mark Farner<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1969<br /> The first time I ever heard Grand Funk Railroad's Ups And Downs (on 8-track tape) I was caught off guard by the band suddenly breaking into a chorus of Row Row Row Your Boat midway through the song. Apparently the band had simply gone into the studio and knocked off eight tunes over a two-day period in June, performing them exactly as they did on stage for their 1969 debut album, On Time (along with a pair of tunes recorded a couple months earlier). The result was some of the most raw and honest hard rock ever recorded.<br /><br />Artist: Al Kooper/Stephen Stills/Harvey Brooks/Eddie Hoh<br />Title: You Don't Love Me<br />Source: LP: Super Session<br />Writer(s): Willie Cobb<br />Label: Sundazed/Columbia<br />Year: 1968<br /> You Don't Love Me was originally recorded and released as a single by Willie Cobbs in 1960. Although the song is credited solely to Cobbs, it strongly resembles a 1955 Bo Diddley B side, She's Fine She's Mine, in its melody, lyrics and repeated guitar riff. The Cobbs single was a regional hit on the Mojo label in Memphis, but stalled out nationally after being reissued on Vee-Jay Records, due to the label pulling promotional support from the song due to copyright issues. A 1965 version by Junior Wells with Buddy Guy saw some minor changes in the lyrics to the song; it was this version that was covered by Al Kooper and Stephen Stills for the 1968 Super Session album. The recording extensively uses an effect called flanging, a type of phase-shifting that was first used in stereo on the Jimi Hendrix Experience track Bold As Love. <br /><br />Artist: James Gang<br />Title: Lost Woman<br />Source: CD: Yer' Album<br />Writer(s): Dreja/McCarty/Beck/Relf/Samwell-Smith<br />Label: MCA (original label: Bluesway)<br />Year: 1969<br /> The first James Gang album was primarily designed to show off the performing talents of guitarist Joe Walsh, bassist Tom Kriss and drummer Jim Fox. As such, most of the album was made up of cover songs such as the Yardbirds' Lost Woman. Like other covers on Yer' Album, Lost Woman turns into a long extended jam, running a total of nine minutes before all is played and done. Subsequent albums would focus more on the songwriting talents of the band members, particularly Walsh.<br /><br />Artist: Cactus<br />Title: You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover<br />Source: CD: Cactus<br />Writer(s): Willie Dixon<br />Label: Wounded Bird (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1970<br /> Cactus was kind of an accidental supergroup formed in 1969, when plans for a new band featuring bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice from Vanilla Fudge, along with former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck, had to be scrapped due to Beck being injured in a car accident. Instead, Bogert and Appice recruited guitarist Jim McCarty, a veteran of Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels who had more recently been working with the Buddy Miles Express, and vocalist Rusty Day from the Amboy Dukes to form Cactus. The group released their self-titled debut LP in 1970. The album featured a mix of originals and high-energy covers of blues classics such as Willie Dixon's You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover, which had originally been recorded by Bo Diddley. The Cactus version of the tune runs six and a half minutes and includes some wailing guitar work from McCarty, who would eventually leave the band over creative differences with the other members. <br /><br />Artist: Janis Joplin<br />Title: Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)<br />Source: CD: I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama<br />Writer: Ragavoy/Taylor<br />Label: Columbia/Legacy<br />Year: 1969<br /> A glance through the various playlists on this blog makes one thing abundantly clear: the psychedelic era was a time for bands, as opposed to individual stars. The music industry itself, however, tends to favor the single artist. Perhaps this is because it is easier to market (cynics would say exploit) an individual artist than a collective of musicians. In the case of Janis Joplin, people in the industry managed to convince her that her fellow members of Big Brother and the Holding Company were holding her back due to their lack of musicianship. A listen to her first album without her old bandmates puts the lie to that argument. Although the Kozmic Blues Band may indeed have had greater expertise as individual musicians than Big Brother, the energy that had electrified audiences at the Monterey Pop Festival and at various San Francisco ballrooms was just not there, and the album is generally considered somewhat limp in comparison to Cheap Thrills. The opening (and some would say best) track on the album is Try (Just A Little Bit Harder). While not a bad song, the recording just doesn't have the magic of a Piece of My Heart or Ball and Chain, despite a strong vocal performance by Joplin herself.<br /> <br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: Peace Frog/Blue Sunday<br />Source: LP: Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine (originally released on LP: Morrison Hotel)<br />Writer(s): Morrison/Kreiger<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1970<br /> The Doors' Peace Frog, in a very basic sense, is actually two separate works of art. The track started off as an instrumental piece by guitarist Robbie Kreiger, recorded while the rest of the band was waiting for Jim Morrison to come up with lyrics for another piece. Not long after the track was recorded, producer Paul Rothchild ran across a poem of Morrison's called Abortion Stories and encouraged him to adapt it to the new instrumental tracks. Peace Frog, which appears on the album Morrison Hotel, leads directly into Blue Sunday, one of many poems/songs written by Morrison for Pamela Courson, his paramour since 1965.<br /><br />Artist: Jethro Tull<br />Title: Mother Goose<br />Source: CD: Aqualung<br />Writer(s): Ian Anderson<br />Label: Chrysalis (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1971<br /> Aqualung was Jethro Tull's breakthrough album, and it remains their all-time best-seller, with over seven million copies sold worldwide so far. The album, released in 1971, was the first to include keyboardist John Evan and bassist Jeffrey Hammond as full time members, and also the last to feature founding member Clive Barker on drums. The album also contains more acoustic material than the band's earlier works; a prime example of this is Mother Goose, a song that continues the abstract imagery of Cross-Eyed Mary, which appears earlier on the same side of the original LP. <br /><br />Artist: Steely Dan<br />Title: Fire In The Hole<br />Source: Mono 45 RPM single B side <br />Writer(s): Becker/Fagen<br />Label: ABC<br />Year: 1972<br /> Donald Fagen's unique piano style is on display on Fire In The Hole, a track from the first Steely Dan album, Can't Buy A Thrill. The tune also appeared as the B side of Steely Dan's second single (and first hit), Do It Again.<br /><br />Artist: Nazareth<br />Title: Broken Down Angel<br />Source: 45 RPM single (promo)<br />Writer(s): Nazareth<br />Label: A&M<br />Year: 1973<br /> Nazareth was formed in Dumfermline, Scotland in 1968, and recorded their first album in 1971. The band's original lineup included Dan McCafferty on lead vocals, Darrell Sweet on percussion, Pete Agnew on bass guitar and Manny Charlton on electric guitar, and had a series of hit singles in the UK, Canada and Europe in the early 1970s. The first of these was Broken Down Angel, which made the British top 10 in 1973. The song was not a hit in the US, however. Ironically, Love Hurts, the only Nazareth song to hit big in the US, failed to crack the top 40 in the UK.<br /> <br />Artist: Robin Trower<br />Title: Too Rolling Stoned<br />Source: CD: Bridge Of Sighs<br />Writer(s): Robin Trower<br />Label: Chrysalis/Capitol<br />Year: 1974<br /> One of the most celebrated guitar albums of all time, Bridge Of Sighs was Robin Trower's second solo LP following his departure from Procol Harum. Released in 1974, the LP spent 31 weeks on the Billboard album charts, peaking at #7. Bridge of Sighs has served as a template for later guitar-oriented albums, especially those of Warren Haines and Gov't Mule. Among the many tracks from Bridge Of Sighs to get extensive airplay on US FM rock stations in the mid-1970s was Too Rolling Stoned, which opens up the album's second side.<br /><br />Artist: Robin Trower<br />Title: In This Place<br />Source: CD: Bridge Of Sighs<br />Writer(s): Robin Trower<br />Label: Chrysalis/Capitol<br />Year: 1974<br /> About half of the tunes on Bridge Of Sighs were co-written by vocalist/bassist James Dewar, with the remainder credited solely to Trower. In This Place is an example of the latter.<br /> </p><p><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-40289633441908857142024-03-10T07:10:00.000-07:002024-03-16T18:32:30.651-07:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2411 (starts 3/11/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/520294 </p><p><br /> This week has a little bit of a lot of things, including sets from 1965, 1966 and 1967, progressions through the years, regressions through the years, and an Advanced Psych segment. After all that you might need a little Codine, and we've got that, too, from Quicksilver Messenger Service.<br /><br />Artist: Monkees<br />Title: The Girl I Knew Somewhere (single version)<br />Source: Mono Australian import 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Michael Nesmith<br />Label: RCA<br />Year: 1967<br /> Although both Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork had participated in a few of the studio sessions for what became the first two Monkees albums (with Nesmith producing), the Monkees did not record as an actual band until January 16, 1967, when they taped the first version of Nesmith's The Girl I Knew Somewhere. Nesmith himself handled the lead vocals and guitar work, while Tork, the most accomplished musician in the group, played harpsichord. Mickey Dolenz played drums and Davy Jones added the tambourine part. The song was released less than two weeks after the same lineup re-recorded the song with Dolenz on lead vocals as the B side to A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You. Both sides made the top 40 in the spring of 1967.<br /><br />Artist: Who<br />Title: Sunrise<br />Source: LP: The Who Sell Out<br />Writer(s): Pete Townshend<br />Label: Decca<br />Year: 1967<br /> One of the nicest tunes on The Who Sell Out is Sunrise, which is actually a Pete Townshend solo tune featuring Townshend's vocals and acoustic guitar. One of my favorites.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Penny Lane (North American radio version)<br />Source: LP: Rarities (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Capitol/EMI<br />Year: 1967<br /> Here's a little known fact: the true stereo recording of the Beatles' Penny Lane was not released in the US until 1980, when the song appeared on an album called Rarities. The original 1967 single was mono only, while the version used on the US Magical Mystery Tour LP was created using Capitol's infamous Duophonic process. A true stereo mix that had previously been available only in Germany was used on Rarities, but modified to include a series of trumpet notes at the end of the song that had previously only appeared on promo copies of the single sent to radio stations in the US and Canada. <br /> <br />Artist: Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band<br />Title: Yellow Brick Road<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Van Vliet/Bermann<br />Label: Buddah/Sundazed<br />Year: 1967<br /> Following a pair of singles for Herb Alpert's A&M that garnered modest airplay on a handful of Los Angeles area radio stations, Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band set out to record a set of heavily R&B flavored demos. The label, however, didn't like what they heard and soon dropped the band from their lineup. Undeterred, the group soon signed with Kama Sutra's brand new subsidiary label, Buddah. The resulting album, Safe As Milk, was the first LP to be released on the new label. Among the more experimental tracks on the album was Yellow Brick Road, a mono mix of which has recently been reissued as the B side of a single. Also of note is the presence of 20-year-old Ry Cooder on slide guitar.<br /><br />Artist: First Edition<br />Title: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)<br />Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: The First Edition and as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Mickey Newbury<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1968<br /> 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.<br /><br />Artist: Spencer Davis Group<br />Title: Hammer Song ( aka This Hammer)<br />Source: Mono LP: Gimme Some Lovin' (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single B side and on LP: The Second Album)<br />Writer(s): Trad., arr. Winwood/Winwood/York/Davis<br />Label: United Artists (original UK label: Fontana)<br />Year: 1965<br /> When originally released in the UK (as a B side) this track was title This Hammer. On later releases however, such as the compilation LP Gimme Some Lovin', available only the US and Canada, the title is given as Hammer Song. I guess when it comes to traditional pieces even the title can be a bit hazy.<br /><br />Artist: Shadows Of Knight<br />Title: Peepin' And Hidin'<br />Source: CD: Dark Sides-The Best Of The Shadows Of Knight (originally released on LP: Back Door Men)<br />Writer(s): Jimmy Reed<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)<br />Year: 1966<br /> When the Shadows Of Knight first entered the recording studio to work on their first LP, Gloria, the band featured Warren Rogers on lead guitar and Joe Kelley on bass. It soon became evident, however, the Kelley had a lot more talent as an instrumentalist than anyone had realized, and by the time the album was completed Kelley and Rogers had traded instruments. The band's second LP, Back Door Men, saw Kelley taking even a bigger role on tracks like Jimmy Reed's Peepin' And Hidin', which features Kelley on lead vocals, as well as his usual lead guitar and blues harp. <br /><br />Artist: Canned Heat<br />Title: Catfish Blues<br />Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Canned Heat)<br />Writer: Robert Petway<br />Label: United Artists (original label: Liberty)<br />Year 1967<br /> Like many other US cities in the 1960s, San Francisco had a small but enthusiastic community of blues record collectors. A group of them got together in 1966 to form Canned Heat, and made quite an impression when they played the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. This led to a contract with Liberty Records and an album consisting entirely of cover versions of blues standards. One standout track from that album is Robert Petway's Catfish Blues, expanded to over six minutes by the Heat. Original drummer Frank Cook would leave Canned Heat after their first album, eventually finding his way into Pacific Gas & Electric, where he also served as manager for a time. Meanwhile, Canned Heat would recruit Fito de la Parra as his replacement, completing the band's classic lineup.<br /><br />Artist: Leaves<br />Title: War Of Distortion<br />Source: CD: Hey Joe<br />Writer(s): Bobby Arlin<br />Label: One Way (original label: Mira)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The most psychedelic piece on L.A.'s Leaves' first LP, Hey Joe, is guitarist Bobby Arlin's War Of Distortion. Oddly, the track does not contain any of the usual distortion effects heard on many garage-rock albums, but instead manages to sound like a merry-go-round speeding up and slowing down without actually speeding up or slowing down, thanks in large part to the use of a children's slide whistle. The vocals go back and forth between the extreme right and left throughout the song, so listening in stereo, preferably with headphones, is highly recommended.<br /><br />Artist: Standells<br />Title: Why Pick On Me<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Ed Cobb<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Ed Cobb was, in many ways, the Ed Wood of the record industry. The bands who recorded under his guidance, such as LA.'s Standells, have become legends of garage rock. Wood wrote the first three singles released by the Standells, including their biggest hit, Dirty Water, and its follow-up, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White. Why Pick On Me, the title track of the band's second LP, was the third single released by the band, although it did not chart as well as its predecessors.<br /><br />Artist: Paul Revere And The Raiders<br />Title: Get It On<br />Source: LP: Midnight Ride<br />Writer(s): Volk/Levin<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1966<br /> The first four LPs by Paul Revere and the Raiders were, like most albums in the early 1960s, made up primarily of cover songs. 1965's Just Like Us, for instance, had only one song written by band members (Steppin' Out, by Revere and vocalist Mark Lindsay). That all changed with the release of Midnight Ride in 1966. Of the album's nine songs, all but two were written by band members; in fact, it is the only Raiders album to include compositions from every member of the group. Three of the songs were written or co-written by lead guitarist Drake Levin, the band's youngest member. Those three songs included Get It On, which features lead vocals by co-writer and bassist Phil "Fang" Volk. <br /><br />Artist: Janis Joplin<br />Title: My Baby (alternate take)<br />Source: CD: The Pearl Sessions<br />Writer(s): Ragovoy/Schuman<br />Label: Columbia/Legacy<br />Year: Recorded 1970, released 2012<br /> By far the most polished of Janis Joplin's albums was Pearl, recorded in 1970 and released in January of 1971. Much of the credit for the album's sound has to go to Paul Rothchild, who had already made his reputation producing the Doors. Another factor was the choice of material to record. In addition to some of Joplin's originals such as Mercedes Benz and Move Over, the LP featured several songs from songwriter Jerry Ragovoy, who had co-written (with the legendary Bert Berns) Joplin's first big hit with Big Brother and the Holding Company, Piece Of My Heart. Working with another legendary songwriter, Doc Schuman, Ragovoy provided some of Joplin's most memorable songs on the album, including My Baby, a song that suited Joplin's vocal style perfectly, as can be heard on this alternate take from The Pearl Sessions, released in 2012.<br /><br />Artist: It's A Beautiful Day<br />Title: White Bird<br />Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: It's A Beautiful Day)<br />Writer(s): David & Linda LaFlamme<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1969<br /> San Francisco's It's A Beautiful Day is a good illustration of how a band can be a part of a trend without intending to be or even realizing that they are. In their case, they were actually tied to two different trends. The first one was a positive thing: it was now possible for a band to be considered successful without a top 40 hit, as long as their album sales were healthy. The second trend was not such a good thing; as was true for way too many bands, It's A Beautiful Day was sorely mistreated by its own management, in this case one Matthew Katz. Katz already represented both Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape when he signed up It's A Beautiful Day in 1967. What the members of It's A Beautiful Day did not know at the time was that both of the aforementioned bands were desperately trying to get out of their contracts with Katz. The first thing Katz did after signing It's A Beautiful Day was to ship the band off to Seattle to become house band at a club Katz owned called the San Francisco Sound. Unfortunately for the band, Seattle already had a sound of its own and attendance at their gigs was sparse. Feeling downtrodden and caged (and having no means of transportation to boot) classically-trained 5-string violinist and lead vocalist David LaFlamme and his keyboardist wife Linda LaFlamme translated those feelings into a song that is at once sad and beautiful: the classic White Bird. As an aside, Linda LaFlamme was not the female vocalist heard on White Bird. Credit for those goes to one Pattie Santos, the other female band member. To this day Katz owns the rights to It's A Beautiful Day's recordings, which have been reissued on CD on Katz's San Francisco Sound label.<br /><br />Artist: Them<br />Title: Square Room<br />Source: British import CD: Now And Them<br />Writer(s): Armstrong/Elliot/Harley/Henderson/McDowell<br />Label: Rev-Ola (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1968<br /> With new lead vocalist Kenny McDowell replacing the departed Van Morrison, Them relocated to the US and recorded a single for Sully Records, a label based in Amarillo, Texas and co-owned by Ray Ruff. The B side of that single was a three-minute long tune called Square Room. Not long after the single was released Ruff and the band all relocated to Los Angeles, where Ruff produced two Them albums for Capitol's Tower subsidiary. The first of these, Now And Them, features a nearly ten minute long version of Square Room that has come to be regarded as one of the finest examples of raga-rock to come out of the psychedelic era. Jim Armstrong in particular turns in a strong performance on lead guitar. <br /> <br />Artist: Early Rationals [circa 1966]<br />Title: I Need You<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Ray Davies<br />Label: Rhino (original label: A Squared)<br />Year: 1967<br /> The Rationals were formed in 1965 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They soon got the attention of local label A2 (A Squared), and had a series of regional hits in the same Detroit soul-rock style favored by such notables as Mitch Ryder and Bob Seger. One of the best of these was a cover of a Kinks B side, I Need You, which the Rationals recorded in 1966, but did not release until late 1967, when it appeared as a B side backing another artist entirely. To confuse the matter the record was credited to the Early Rationals (circa 1966). Even stranger was the fact that the Rationals had released a Gerry Goffin/Carole King song called I Need You on the same label earlier that same year. My money's on this one as the better of the two tracks.<br /><br />Artist: Strawberry Zots<br />Title: Pretty Flowers<br />Source: LP: Cars, Flowers, Telephones<br />Writer(s): Mark Andrews<br />Label: StreetSound<br />Year: 1989<br /> Albuquerque's Strawberry Zots were led by Mark Andrews, who either wrote or co-wrote all of the band's original material. Their only LP, Cars, Flowers, Telephones, was released locally on the StreetSound label and reissued on CD the following year by RCA records. My personal favorite track on the album is Pretty Flowers, which starts off the LP's second side. Unfortunately the song is handicapped by its low-fidelity production, which may have been a deliberate attempt to emulate the sound of 60s psychedelia, but ends up sounding over-compressed (like much of the music of the 1980s).<br /> <br />Artist: Ace Of Cups<br />Title: Interlude: Transistor/Stones<br />Source: CD: Ace Of Cups<br />Writer(s): Mary Gannon<br />Label: High Moon<br />Year: 2018<br /> Stones is one of the oldest songs in the Ace Of Cups repertoire, dating back to 1967. What makes the 2018 version of the track truly unique, however, is the fact that drummer Diane Vitalich puts some of the band's shared experience into her lead vocals on the tune, which was written, and originally sung, by the group's founder, Mary Gannon. It turns out that bandmate Denise Kaufman was present (and five months pregnant) at the infamous 1969 Rolling Stones concert at Altamont that erupted into violence, and was in fact seriously injured when her skull was fractured by a thrown beer bottle. To make things worse, the Stones themselves refused to let their helicopter be used to transport her to a hospital, endangering both her and the baby. Although things turned out OK in the long run, Vitalich, for the studio version of Stones, replaced a line in the song's bridge about how the Ace Of Cups loved the Rolling Stones with the following: "You can rock like a Rolling Stone, but baby I ain't buyin' it." <br /><br />Artist: 27 Devils Joking<br />Title: Indian Joe<br />Source: LP: Actual Toons<br />Writer(s): Brian S. Curley<br />Label: Live Wire<br />Year: 1986<br /> This seems like a good place to talk about Craig Ellis. Craig was a talented, if somewhat troubled songwriter/guitarist/vocalist whom I first heard of in the early 1980s when I ran across a single by a group called Cosmic Grackles at KUNM radio at the University of New Mexico. I finally met Craig in late1986, when both of us were recording at Bottomline Studios in southeast Albuquerque. I was working on something called Civilian Joe ("a real American zero"), while Craig was putting together a project called Uproar At The Zoo involving guitarist Larry Otis and drummer John Henry Smith, among others. Around that same time I interviewed a guy from Santa Fe named Brian S. Curley, who was appearing on my Rock Nouveaux radio show to promote his new group, 27 Devils Joking. During the interview Brian mentioned that he had until recently been working with Craig Ellis, and that 27 Devils Joking was actually a result of a falling out between the two. Which brings us to Indian Joe, a track from the first 27 Devils Joking LP, Actual Toons. You see, in early 1987 Craig gave me a cassette tape of some of his most recent work, including a song called Indian Joe. It's the same song, using an almost identical arrangement, yet on the LP the song is listed as being the sole work of Brian Curley. One of these days I'll find that old cassette tape Craig gave me and try to figure out once and for all whose song it is.<br /> <br />Artist: Glass Family<br />Title: House Of Glass<br />Source: British import CD: My Mind Goes High (originally released in US on LP: The Glass Family Electric Band)<br />Writer(s): Ralph Parrett<br />Label: Warner Strategic Marketing (original label: Warner Brothers)<br />Year: 1968<br /> The Glass Family (Ralph Parrett, David Capilouto and Gary Green) first surfaced in 1967 with a single called Teenage Rebellion on Mike Curb's Sidewalk label. The following year they signed with Warner Brothers, releasing their only LP, The Glass Family Electric Band, that same year. The opening track from the album, House Of Glass, is, in the words of Capilouto, self-explanatory, which is a good thing, as it saves me the trouble of trying to figure out what it's about.<br /><br />Artist: Steppenwolf<br />Title: Sookie Sookie<br />Source: LP: The ABC Collection (originally released on LP: Steppenwolf)<br />Writer(s): Covay/Cropper<br />Label: ABC (original label: Dunhill)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Not every song on the first Steppenwolf album was an original composition. In fact, some of the best songs on the LP were covers, from Hoyt Axton's The Pusher to Willie Dixon's Hoochie Coochie Man. A third cover, Sookie Sookie, was actually released as a follow-up single to Born To Be Wild, but failed to chart. The song had been an R&B hit a couple years earlier for Don Covay and was co-written by the legendary MGs guitarist Steve Cropper. <br /><br />Artist: Chocolate Watch Band<br />Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In) (originally released on LP: No Way Out and as 45 RPM single)<br />Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk<br />Writer: McElroy/Bennett<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1967<br /> It took me several years to sort out the convoluted truth behind the recorded works of San Jose, California's most popular local band, the Chocolate Watch Band. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in fact the work of studio musicians, there are a few tracks that are indeed the product of Dave Aguilar and company. Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In), a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watch Band's first album, is one of those few. Ironically, the song was co-written by Don Bennett, the studio vocalist whose voice was substituted for Aguilar's on a couple of other songs from the same album. According to legend, the band actually showed up at the movie studio without any songs prepared for the film, and learned to play and sing Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In) right there on the set. This, combined with the story of their first visit to a recording studio the previous year (a story for another time) shows one of the Watch Band's greatest strengths: the ability to pick up and perfect new material faster than anyone else. It also shows their overall disinterest in the recording process. This was a band that wanted nothing more than to play live, often outperforming the big name bands they opened for. <br /><br />Artist: Little Boy Blues<br />Title: The Great Train Robbery<br />Source: Mono CD: Oh Yeah! The Best Of Dunwich Records (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Jordan Miller<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: Ronko)<br />Year: 1966<br /> When Bob Dylan went electric in 1965 it not only shocked the folk music community, it transformed the world of rock music as well. Suddenly it was OK to write a rock song about something other than relationships with the other sex, and the Little Boy Blues, from Skokie, Illinois, rose to the occasion with The Great Train Robbery. Released in late 1966, the song describes an event from recent history (an actual train robbery near London in 1963), as told by one of the ringleaders of the gang that perpetrated the robbery itself. The last verse of the song, which was issued on the tiny Ronko label, expresses the regret of the narrator, who is now doing 30 years in prison. The Little Boy Blues, consisting of Ray Levin (bass), Paul Ostroff (lead guitar), Jim Boyce (drums), and a series of rhythm guitarists, released half a dozen records on three different labels from 1965 to 1968.<br /><br />Artist: Five Americans<br />Title: I See The Light<br />Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Durrill/Ezell/Rabon<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)<br />Year: 1965<br /> For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Dallas address. It turns out, though, that the band was actually from Durant, Oklahoma, although by the time they had their biggest hit, Western Union, they were playing most of their gigs in the Lone Star state. I See The Light is an earlier single built around a repeating Farfisa organ riff that leads into a song that can only be described as in your face. The song was produced by the legendary Dale Hawkins, who wrote and recorded the original version of Suzy Q in the late 1950s. <br /><br />Artist: Barbarians<br />Title: Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl <br />Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Ron and Doug Morris<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Laurie)<br />Year: 1965<br /> The Barbarians were formed in Boston in 1963, and got their big break when they were picked for a slot on the T.A.M.I. show in 1964. The group was somewhat unusual in that the lead vocalist, Vic "Moulty" Moulton, was also the drummer. The fact that Moulty wore a hook only made the band stand out even more. In 1965 they hit the charts with Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl, a satirical song based on a rather snide question that was often heard coming out of the mouths of conservative types (and greasers) that saw the current trend toward longer hair on boys (inspired by the Beatles) as being a threat to their way of life. <br /> <br />Artist: Mouse And The Traps<br />Title: A Public Execution<br />Source: Mono CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Henderson/Weiss<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Fraternity)<br />Year: 1965<br /> 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.<br /><br />Artist: Janis Ian<br />Title: Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)<br />Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)<br />Writer(s): Janis Ian<br />Label: Polydor (original label: Verve Folkways)<br />Year: 1966<br /> 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 willing to take a chance on the controversial song about interracial dating. The record was released in September of 1966 by M-G-M subsidiary Verve Folkways, 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 the following year after being featured on an April 1967 Leonard Bernstein TV special. 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.<br /><br />Artist: Buffalo Springfield<br />Title: Do I Have To Come Right Out And Say It<br />Source: LP: Buffalo Springfield<br />Writer(s): Neil Young<br />Label: Atco<br />Year: 1966<br /> The first Neil Young song I ever heard was Do I Have To Come Right Out And Say It, which was issued as the B side of For What It's Worth in 1967. I had bought the single and, as always, after my first listen flipped the record over to hear what was on the other side. (Years later I was shocked to learn that there were actually people who never listened to the B side of records they bought. I've never been able to understand that.) Anyway, at the time I didn't know who Neil Young was, or the fact that although Young was a member of Buffalo Springfield it was actually Richie Furay singing the song on the record. Now I realize that may seem a bit naive on my part, but I was 14 at the time, so what do you expect? At least I had the good taste to buy a copy of For What It's Worth in the first place (along with the Doors' Light My Fire and the Spencer Davis Group's I'm A Man if I remember correctly). Where I got the money to buy three current records at the same time is beyond me, though. <br /><br />Artist: Love<br />Title: She Comes In Colors<br />Source: Mono CD: Da Capo (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Arthur Lee<br />Label: Elektra/Rhino<br />Year: 1966<br /> Arthur Lee's transition from angry punk (on songs like 7&7 Is and My Little Red Book) to a softer, more introspective kind of singer/songwriter was evident on Love's second LP, Da Capo. Although there were still some hard rockers, such as Stephanie Knows Who, the album also includes songs like She Comes In Colors, which was released ahead of the album as the band's third single in late 1966. The song was one of Lee's first to inspire critics to draw comparisons between Lee's vocal style and that of Johnny Mathis. Lee may indeed have been, as many assert, a musical genius, but his reference to "England town" shows his knowledge of geography to be somewhat lacking.<br /><br />Artist: Donovan<br />Title: Sunshine Superman<br />Source: CD: Donovan's Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Sunshine Superman)<br />Writer(s): Donovan Leitch<br />Label: Epic/Legacy<br />Year: 1966<br /> Up until the early 1970s there was an unwritten rule that stated that in order to get played on top 40 radio a song could be no more than three and a half minutes long. There were exceptions, of course, such as Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone, but as a general rule the policy was strictly adhered to. Sometimes an artist would record a song that exceeded the limit but nonetheless was considered to have commercial potential. In cases like these the usual practice was for the record company (or sometimes the record's own producer) to create an edited version of the master recording for release as a single. Usually in these cases the original unedited version of the song would appear on an album. In the case of Donovan's Sunshine Superman, however, the mono single version was used for the album as well, possibly because the album itself was never issued in stereo. In fact, it wasn't until 1969 that the full-length original recording of Sunshine Superman was made available as a track on Donovan's first Greatest Hits collection. This was also the first time the song had appeared in stereo, having been newly mixed for that album. <br /><br />Artist: Quicksilver Messenger Service<br />Title: Codine<br />Source: LP: Revolution soundtrack<br />Writer(s): Buffy St. Marie<br />Label: United Artists<br />Year: 1968<br /> Buffy St. Marie's Codine was a popular favorite among the club crowd in mid-60s California. In 1967, L.A. band The Leaves included it on their second LP. Around the same time, up the coast in San Francisco, the Charlatans selected it to be their debut single. The suits at Kama-Sutra Records, however, balked at the choice, and instead sold the band's master tapes to Kapp Records, who then released the group's cover of the Coasters' The Shadow Knows (and sped up the master tape in the mastering process). The novelty-flavored record bombed so bad that the label decided not to release any more Charlatans tracks, thus leaving their version of Codine gathering dust in the vaults until the mid 1990s, when the entire Kama-Sutra sessions were released on CD. Meanwhile, back in 1968, fellow San Francisco band Quicksilver Messenger Service was still without a record contract, despite pulling decent crowds at various Bay Area venues, including a credible appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. Quicksilver did find their way onto vinyl, however, when the producers of the quasi-documentary film Revolution decided to include footage of the band playing Codine, and commissioned this studio recording of the song for the soundtrack album. <br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-20409778854114431252024-03-10T06:58:00.000-07:002024-03-10T06:58:54.523-07:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2411 (starts 3/11/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/520291 </p><p><br /> This week we take a trip to 1969, followed by a short jaunt to 1972.<br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: Roadhouse Blues (live)<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Jim Morrison<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: Recorded 1970, released 1978<br /> Roadhouse Blues is one of the most instantly recognizable songs in the entire Doors catalog. Indeed, most people can identify it from the first guitar riff, long before Jim Morrison's vocals come in. The original studio version of the song was released on the album Morrison Hotel in 1970, and was also issued as the B side of one of the band's lesser-known singles. That same year the Doors undertook what became known as their Roadhouse Blues tour; many of the performances from that tour were recorded, but not released at the time. In 1978 the three remaining members of the band, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore, decided to put music to some recordings of Morrison reciting his own poetry made before his death in 1971. The resulting album, An American Prayer, also included a live version of Roadhouse Blues made from two separate concert tapes from their 1970 tour. An edited version of the album track was released as a 1978 single as well.<br /><br />Artist: Led Zeppelin<br />Title: Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)<br />Source: German import LP: Led Zeppelin II<br />Writer: Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones<br />Label: Atlantic<br />Year: 1969<br /> For years album (now called classic) rock radio stations have been playing Led Zeppelin's Heartbreaker and letting the album play through to the next song, Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman). Back when Stuck in the Psychedelic Era was a local show being played live I occassionally made it a point to play Heartbreaker and follow it with something else entirely. These days I tend to waffle a bit on the whole thing; currently I'm in favor of just playing the two songs together as they appear on the album. Next time, who knows?<br /><br />Artist: Blind Faith<br />Title: Sea Of Joy<br />Source: CD: Blind Faith<br />Writer(s): Steve Winwood<br />Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1969<br /> At the time Blind Faith was formed there is no question that the biggest names in the band were guitarist Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker, having just come off a successful three-year run with Cream. Yet the true architect of the Blind Faith sound was actually Steve Winwood, formerly of the Spencer Davis Group and, more recently, Traffic. Not only did Winwood handle most of the lead vocals for the group, he also wrote more songs on the band's only album than any other member. Among the Winwood tunes on that album is Sea Of Joy, which opens side two of the original LP.<br /><br />Artist: Crosby, Stills and Nash<br />Title: Marrakesh Express<br />Source: CD: Woodstock Two<br />Writer: Graham Nash<br />Label: Atlantic (original label: Cotillion)<br />Year: 1969<br /> The Woodstock festival was a turning point in the careers of several artists, not the least of which were Crosby, Stills and Nash. Although it was only their second live performance, all the members were known to a majority of concertgoers through their previous associations with the Byrds (David Crosby), Buffalo Springfield (Stephen Stills) and the Hollies (Graham Nash). Marrakesh itself had already been released as a single, but had received limited airplay in the US. In the UK, on the other hand, the song was Radio Luxembourg's pick hit of the week when it was first released and within two weeks had gone to the top of the influential station's playlist. <br /><br />Artist: Neil Young/Crazy Horse<br />Title: Cowgirl In The Sand<br />Source: CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere<br />Writer: Neil Young<br />Label: Reprise<br />Year: 1969<br /> It has been said that adverse conditions are conducive to good art. Certainly that truism applies to Neil Young's Cowgirl In The Sand, written while Young was running a 102 degree fever. Almost makes me wish I could be that sick sometime.<br /><br />Artist: Johnny Winter<br />Title: Be Careful With A Fool<br />Source: German import CD: Johnny Winter<br />Writer(s): King/Josea<br />Label: Repertoire (original US label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1969<br /> Johnny Winter's first album for Columbia (his second overall) is nothing less than a blues masterpiece. Accompanied by bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Uncle John Turner, Winter pours his soul into classics like B.B. King's Be Careful With A Fool, maybe even improving on the original (if such a thing is possible).<br /><br />Artist: Grand Funk Railroad<br />Title: In Need<br />Source: CD: Grand Funk<br />Writer(s): Mark Farner<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1969<br /> Anyone who wants to know just what made Grand Funk Railroad the most popular arena rock band of the early 1970s needs only listen to GFR's second album, Grand Funk (usually just referred to as the Red Album). The 1969 album is pure...well, pure Grand Funk Railroad. It's loud, it's messy and, most importantly, it rocks. Hard. Case in point: In Need. <br /><br />Artist: Genesis<br />Title: Get 'em Out By Friday<br />Source: CD: Foxtrot<br />Writer(s): Banks/Collins/Gabriel/Hackett/Rutherford<br />Label: Rhino/Atlantic (original label: Charisma)<br />Year: 1972<br /> Although Genesis is rightfully acknowledged as one of the pioneer bands of the art-rock movement of the early 1970s, they were also the inheritors of a musical form pioneered by (of all people) the Who: the rock mini-opera. One excellent example of this approach is the track Get 'em Out By Friday, from their 1972 LP Foxtrot. The piece, sung entirely by Peter Gabriel, includes sections sung from the point of view of a variety of colorful characters, including John Pebble of Styx Enterprises, Mark Hall (aka The Winkler), Mrs. Barrow (a tenant) and even Joe Ordinary, a local pub denizen. <br /><br />Artist: Wishbone Ash<br />Title: Blowin' Free<br />Source: CD: Argus<br />Writer(s): Upton/Turner/Turner/Powell<br />Label: MCA/Decca<br />Year: 1972<br /> Known to the band's fans as the "Ash Anthem", Blowin' Free is probably the single most popular song Wishbone Ash ever recorded. The song, with lyrics written by bassist Martin Turner before Wishbone Ash even formed, is about Turner's Swedish ex-girlfriend. <br /> </p><p><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-6621685016491893952024-03-03T04:38:00.000-08:002024-03-03T04:38:58.973-08:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2410 (starts 3/4/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/519402 </p><p><br /> This week it's back to a mix of singles, B sides and album tracks from the psychedelic era, including a set of tunes from Jefferson Airplane and a handful of tracks never played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era before. <br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Dandelion<br />Source: Mono CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: Abkco<br />Year: 1967<br /> When the Rolling Stones' most expensive single to date, We Love You, got only a lukewarm response from American radio listeners stations began to flip the record over and play the B side, Dandelion, instead. The song ended up being one of the band's biggest US hits of 1967.<br /><br />Artist: Lemon Pipers<br />Title: Green Tambourine<br />Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Leka/Pinz<br />Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah<br />Year: 1967 <br /> Oxford, Ohio's Lemon Pipers have the distinction of being the first band to score a number one hit for the Buddah label with Green Tambourine, released in November of 1967. Unfortunately for the band, it was their only hit, despite several more attempts.<br /><br />Artist: Glass Family<br />Title: The Means<br />Source: LP: Electric Band<br />Writer(s): Ralph Parrett<br />Label: Maplewood (original label: Warner Brothers)<br />Year: 1969<br /> After recording an entire album's worth of material that was rejected by their label, the Glass Factory returned to the studio to cut a whole new batch of tracks. Among those new tracks was The Means, written by Ralph Parrett, the legal name of guitarist/vocalist Jim Callon, who founded the band earlier in the decade to raise money for "beer and surfboard wax".<br /><br />Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band<br />Title: Ritual #1<br />Source: LP: Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil<br />Writer(s): Markley/Ware<br />Label: Reprise<br />Year: 1968<br /> Technically, Volume III is actually the fourth album by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. The first one was an early example of a practice that would become almost mandatory for a new band in the 1990s. The LP, titled Volume 1, was recorded at a home studio and issued in 1966 on the tiny Fifa label. Many of the songs on that LP ended up being re-recorded for their major label debut in 1967, which they called Part One. That album was followed by Volume II, released later the same year. In 1968 they released their final album for Reprise, which in addition to being called Volume III was subtitled A Child's Guide To Good And Evil. Included on that album were Ritual #1 and Ritual #2, neither of which sounds anything like the other.<br /><br />Artist: Move<br />Title: I Can Hear The Grass Grow<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969<br />Writer(s): Roy Wood<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Deram)<br />Year: 1967<br /> One of the most popular British bands from 1966-1969 was the Move. Formed by members of various beat bands, the Move consisted of Carl Wayne (vocals), Trevor Burton (guitar, vocals), Roy Wood (guitar, vocals), "Ace" Kefford (bass, vocals) and Bev Bevan, the group scored hit after hit on the British charts, yet never broke the US top 40. Why this should be is a mystery, considering the sheer quality of tunes like I Can Hear The Grass Grow. Written, as were most of the Move's hits, by Roy Wood, I Can Hear The Grass Grow was the band's second single, and ended up in the #5 spot on the British charts. Eventually the Move would add Jeff Lynne to the lineup and form, as a side project, a new band called the Electric Light Orchestra, which became an internationally successful band in the 1970s.<br /><br />Artist: Outsiders<br />Title: You Gotta Look<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Bob Turek<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1966<br /> The song Help Me Girl was handicapped by having two versions out at the same time; one by the Outsiders and the other by Eric Burdon and the Animals. As a result, neither song made much of a splash on the charts, making the B side of the Outsiders version, You Gotta Look, even more obscure than it should have been. An interesting footnote is that You Gotta Look was arranged and conducted by a 26-year-old Chuck Mangione, then a member of Art Blakey's band and later to become the most popular flugelhorn player in the world.<br /><br />Artist: Love<br />Title: Your Friend And Mine-Neil's Song<br />Source: LP: Love Revisited (originally released on LP: Four Sail)<br />Writer(s): Arthur Lee<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1969<br /> Following the departure of guitarist/vocalist Bryan MacLean in 1968, bandleader Arthur Lee decided to fire the rest of the band and start over with a whole new lineup consisting of guitarist Jay Donnellan, bassist Frank Fayad and drummer George Suranovich. The quartet recorded a total of 27 songs in September and October of 1968, giving Elektra head Jac Holzman his choice of tunes to release as a contractual obligation album. Among the tracks on the LP, which Lee titled Love Four Sail, was a tune called Your Friend And Mine-Neil's Song. At first I thought this might be yet another song about Neal Cassady, but it turns out to be a more personal song from Lee concerning Neil Rappaport, a Love roadie who had allegedly sold a significant portion of the band's equipment for drug money and then overdosed. <br /><br />Artist: Vanilla Fudge<br />Title: People<br />Source: Mono CD: The Complete Atco Singles (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Stein/Bogert/Martell/Appice<br />Label: Real Gone/Rhino (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1969<br /> Although credited to the entire band, People was the brainchild of Vanilla Fudge guitarist Vinnie Martell, who came up with the tune while the group was brainstorming for original material to record (as opposed to the rearranged and rocked out covers they were famous for). According to Martell, the song "tells of humanity evolving in time through the prisms of my own personal altered state of consciousness." Brainstorming indeed!<br /><br />Artist: Them<br />Title: Gloria<br />Source: Mono LP: 93/KHJ Boss Goldens Vol. 1 (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Van Morrison<br />Label: Original Sound (origina US label: Parrot)<br />Year: 1965<br /> Gloria was one of the first seven songs that Van Morrison's band, Them, recorded for the British Decca label on July 5, 1964. Morrison had been performing the song since he wrote it in 1963, often stretching out the performance to twenty minutes or longer. The band's producer, Dick Rowe, brought in session musicians on organ and drums for the recordings, as he considered the band members themselves "inexperienced". The song was released as the B side of Them's first single, Baby Please Don't Go, in November of 1964. The song was also released in the US in early 1965, but was soon banned in most parts of the country for its suggestive lyrics. Later that year a suburban Chicago band, the Shadows Of Knight, released their own version of Gloria. That version, with slight lyrical revisions, became a major hit in 1966. <br /><br />Artist: Turtles<br />Title: Last Laugh<br />Source: Mono LP: It Ain't Me Babe<br />Writer(s): Kaylan/Garfield<br />Label: White Whale<br />Year: 1965<br /> The first Turtles album was recorded quickly to cash in on the popularity of their debut single, a cover of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe that went into the top 10 on the Billboard charts in 1965. The band members were still in their teens and required parental permission to record the album, the first LP issued on L.A.'s White Whale label. Most of the tracks on the album were electrified folk songs in a similar vein to the title track. There were also a handful of originals penned by lead vocalist Howard Kaylan while still in high school. Among them was a song called Last Laugh which Kaylan co-wrote with Nita Garfield, who would remain active as a singer/songwriter in the L.A. area for the rest of her life.<br /><br />Artist: Phil Ochs<br />Title: Bracero<br />Source: CD: There But For Fortune<br />Writer(s): Phil Ochs<br />Label: Elektra (originally released on LP: Phil Ochs In Concert)<br />Year: 1966<br /> In 1966, as now, most live albums are filled with songs that had previously appeared in studio form, either as singles or albums tracks, with maybe one or two new tunes at the most. Phil Ochs In Concert, however, was made up entirely of new material. Bracero takes a realistic look at the life of a migrant farm worker in California. As always, Ochs's lyrics are hard-hitting and full of irony.<br /><br />Artist: Spencer Davis Group<br />Title: Mr. Second Class<br />Source: British import CD: Love, Poetry And Revolution (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Hardin/Davis<br />Label: 1967<br />Year: Grapefruit (original label: United Artists)<br /> The Spencer Davis Group managed to survive the departure of their star member, Steve Winwood (and his bass playing brother Muff) in 1967, and with new members Eddie Hardin (vocals) and Phil Sawyer (guitar) managed to get a couple more singles on the chart over the next year or so. The last of these was Mr. Second Class, a surprisingly strong composition from Hardin and Davis.<br /> <br />Artist: Fever Tree<br />Title: Man Who Paints The Pictures<br />Source: LP: Fever Tree<br />Writer(s): Hlotzman/Holtzman/Michaels<br />Label: Uni<br />Year: 1968<br /> Fever Tree is one of those bands that bridges the gap from the psychedelic rock of the late 60s to the progressive rock of the early 70s. Formed in Houston, the band recorded a couple of singles for Bob Shad's Mainstream label, both of which were successful enough for their producers, the husband and wife team of Scott and Vivian Holtzman, to move the band to Los Angeles, where they signed with Uni Records (now known as MCA). Fever Tree's 1968 debut LP for Uni featured arrangements by David Angel, who had provided string and horn arrangements for the critically-acclaimed Love album, Forever Changes, the previous year. Overall, side one is the stronger side of the LP, featuring the band's best-known song, San Francisco Girls (Return Of The Native), and the hard-rocking Man Who Paints The Pictures, among others. <br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: Love Street<br />Source: Stereo 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Jim Morrison<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1968<br /> Like many of Jim Morrison's songs, Love Street started off as a poem. "Love Street" was actually the nickname given to Rothdale Trail, the street he and Pamela Courson lived on in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon. Morrison and Courson spent a lot of time sitting on their balcony, watching the local hippies going to and from the Canyon Country Store, which was across the street from their house. Morrison turned the poem into a song in time to get it recorded for the third Doors album, Waiting For The Sun. The track was also released as the B side of the Doors' second #1 single, Hello I Love You, Won't You Tell Me Your Name.<br /><br />Artist: Cyrkle<br />Title: Red Chair Fade Away<br />Source: European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RMP single)<br />Writer(s): Barry and Robin Gibb<br />Label: Sony Music (original US label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1968<br /> The story of the Cyrkle is very much a story of quick success followed by a slow, arduous decline. Their first single, Red Rubber Ball, nearly topped the charts. The follow-up, Turn Down Day, did almost (but not quite) as well, and both are heard regularly on oldies radio stations. Their next single did a bit worse, as did the one after that and the one after that. In fact, each and every single the band released did slightly worse than its predecessor. Making things worse was the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, in mid-1967. One bright spot for the band was when co-founder Tom Dawes got wind that the 7-UP soft drink company was looking for a jingle for their new "un-cola" ad campaign. The band spent about half a day recording the jingle and Dawes took home a check for $10,000, pretty big money in 1967. Not long after, Dawes left the Cyrkle for good for a career in the advertising industry, turning out such memorable tunes as Plop Plop Fizz Fizz (Oh, What A Relief It Is). The final Cyrkle record was a single, Where Are You Going, released in January of 1968, with a cover of a Bee Gees LP track, Red Chair Fade Away, on the B side.<br /><br />Artist: Orange Wedge<br />Title: From The Womb To The Tomb<br />Source: Mono CD: An Overdose Of Heavy Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): L.S.P.<br />Label: Arf! Arf! (original label: Blue Flat Owsley Memorial)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Recorded in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1968, From The Womb To The Tomb was the B side of the only single from Orange Wedge, a forerunner of more famous Michigan bands such as the Stooges and the MC5.<br /><br />Artist: Iron Butterfly<br />Title: Gentle As It May Seem<br />Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Heavy)<br />Writer(s): DeLoach/Weis<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Personnel changes were pretty much a regular occurrence with Iron Butterfly. After the first album, Heavy, everyone except keyboardist Doug Ingle and drummer Ron Bushy left the band. This was accompanied by a drastic change in style as well, as Ingle, who had already been carrying the lion's share of lead vocals, became the group's primary songwriter as well. Gentle As It Seems, written by Daryl DeLoach and lead guitarist Danny Weis, is a good example of the band's original sound, back when they were scrounging for gigs in a rapidly shrinking L.A. all-ages club scene.<br /><br />Artist: Chocolate Watchband<br />Title: Come On<br />Source: CD: No Way Out)<br />Writer(s): Chuck Berry<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Neither songwriting nor studio work was the Chocolate Watchband's thing, at least in their early (and most popular) incarnations. As lead vocalist Dave Aguilar put it, performing live and blowing the competition off the stage was "what we lived for". And they did it well, mostly with covers of songs recorded by the grittier British bands like the Rolling Stones. In fact, when they went into the studio to record their first LP, No Way Out, one of the first songs they recorded was a dead on cover of the Stones' arrangement of Chuck Berry's Come On. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that it's in stereo this track could easily have been passed off as a Stones bootleg and very few people would be able to tell the difference.<br /><br />Artist: Jefferson Airplane<br />Title: Triad<br />Source: CD: Crown of Creation<br />Writer: David Crosby<br />Label: BMG/RCA<br />Year: 1968<br /> It's interesting to contrast the attitudes of the band members of the Byrds and Jefferson Airplane to David Crosby's Triad. Whereas both Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman expressed discomfort with the song (to the point of not releasing it), the Airplane members, particularly Paul Kantner and Grace Slick, embraced the tune, giving it a featured spot on the Crown of Creation album. The song itself is based on ideas put forth by Robert A. Heinlein in his Science Fiction masterpiece Stranger In A Strange Land.<br /><br />Artist: Jefferson Airplane<br />Title: Eskimo Blue Day<br />Source: LP: Volunteers<br />Writer(s): Slick/Kantner<br />Label: RCA Victor<br />Year: 1969<br /> Jefferson Airplane's sixth LP, Volunteers, was by far their most socio-political album, from the first track (We Can Be Together, with its famous "up against the wall" refrain) to the last (the song Volunteers itself). One of the more controversial tracks on the 1969 album is Eskimo Blue Day, which describes just how meaningless human concerns are in the greater scheme of things with the repeated use of the phrase "doesn't mean shit to a tree". Eskimo Blue Day was one of two songs from Volunteers performed by the Airplane at Woodstock.<br /><br />Artist: Jefferson Airplane<br />Title: Crown Of Creation<br />Source: CD: Crown of Creation<br />Writer: Paul Kantner<br />Label: BMG/RCA<br />Year: 1968<br /> After the acid rock experimentation of 1967's After Bathing At Baxter's, the Airplane returned to a more conventional format for 1968's Crown Of Creation album. The songs themselves, however, had a harder edge than those on the early Jefferson Airplane albums, as the band itself was becoming more socio-politically radical. The song Crown of Creation draws a definite line between the mainstream and the counter-culture.<br /><br />Artist: Simon and Garfunkel<br />Title: The Sound Of Silence<br />Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Sounds Of Silence)<br />Writer(s): Paul Simon<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1965<br /> The Sound Of Silence was originally an acoustic piece that was included on Simon and Garfunkel's 1964 debut album, Wednesday Morning 3AM. The album went nowhere and was soon deleted from the Columbia Records catalog. Simon and Garfunkel themselves went their separate ways, with Simon moving to London and recording a solo LP, the Paul Simon Songbook. While Simon was in the UK, something unexpected happened. Radio stations along the east coast began playing the song, getting a strong positive response from college students, particularly those on spring break in Florida. On June 15, 1965 producer Tom Wilson, who had been working with Bob Dylan on Like A Rolling Stone earlier in the day, pulled out the master tape of The Sound Of Silence and, utilizing some of the same studio musicians, added electric instruments to the existing recording. The electrified version of the song was released to local radio stations, where it garnered enough interest to get the modified recording released as a single. It turned out to be a huge hit, prompting Paul Simon to move back to the US and reunite with Art Garfunkel.<br /><br />Artist: Animals<br />Title: See See Rider<br />Source: LP: The Best Of Eric Burdon And The Animals Vol. II (originally released on LP: Animalization)<br />Writer(s): Ma Rainey<br />Label: M-G-M<br />Year: 1966<br /> One of the last singles released by the original incarnation of the Animals, See See Rider traces its roots back to the 1920s, when it was first recorded by Ma Rainey. The Animals version is considerably faster than most other recordings of the song, and includes a signature opening rift by organist Dave Rowberry (who had replaced founder Alan Price prior to the recording of the Animalization album where the song first appeared) that is unique to the Animals' take on the tune. The record label itself credits Rowberry as the songwriter, rather than Rainey, perhaps because the Animals' arrangement was so radically different from various earlier recordings of the song, such as the #1 R&B hit by Chuck Willis and LaVerne Baker's early 60s version. <br /> <br />Artist: Fantastic Zoo<br />Title: Light Show<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Cameron/Karl<br />Label: Double Shot<br />Year: 1967<br /> The Fantastic Zoo had its origins in Denver, Colorado, with a band called the Fogcutters. When the group disbanded in 1966, main members Don Cameron and Erik Karl relocated to Los Angeles and reformed the group with new members. After signing a deal with local label Double Shot (which had a major hit on the charts at the time with Count Five's Psychotic Reaction), the group rechristened itself Fantastic Zoo, releasing their first single that fall. Early in 1967 the band released their second and final single, Light Show. The song did not get much airplay at the time, but has since become somewhat of a cult favorite.<br /><br />Artist: Cream<br />Title: Those Were The Days<br />Source: CD: Wheels Of Fire<br />Writer(s): Baker/Taylor<br />Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Drummer Ginger Baker only contributed a handful of songs to the Cream repertoire, but each was, in its own way, quite memorable. Those Are The Days, with its sudden changes of time and key, presages the progressive rock that would flourish in the mid-1970s. As was usually the case with Baker-penned songs, bassist Jack Bruce provides the vocals from this Wheels Of Fire track.<br /><br />Artist: Jethro Tull<br />Title: For A Thousand Mothers<br />Source: CD: Stand Up<br />Writer(s): Ian Anderson<br />Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1969<br /> For years, the only copy I had of this track was a homemade cassette tape. As a result I was under the impression that this was actually two separate songs. Long silences will do that. Long silences will also trip automatic sensors on automated radio station equipment, which partially explains why such a great track has always gotten far less airplay than it deserves.<br /><br />Artist: Grateful Dead<br />Title: Uncle John's Band<br />Source: CD: Skeletons From The Closet (originally released on LP: Workingman's Dead)<br />Writer(s): Hunter/Garcia<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1970<br /> For many people who only got their music from commercial radio, Uncle John's Band was the first Grateful Dead song they ever heard. The tune, from the 1970 LP Workingman's Dead, was the first Dead song to crack the top 100, peaking at #69, and got significant airplay on FM rock radio stations as well. The close harmonies on the track were reportedly inspired by Crosby, Stills and Nash, whose debut album had come out the previous year. <br /><br />Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival<br />Title: Suzy Q<br />Source: CD: Chronicles (originally released on LP: Creedence Clearwater Revival)<br />Writer(s): Dale Hawkins<br />Label: Fantasy<br />Year: 1968<br /> Creedence Clearwater Revival is known mostly for their series of hit singles written by vocalist/guitarist John Fogerty; tight, relatively short songs like Green River, Proud Mary and Bad Moon Rising. The most popular track on their 1968 debut LP, however, was an eight and a half minute long rendition of a song that had originally hit the charts over ten years earlier. Suzy Q had been a top 30 single (and top 10 on the R&B charts) for Dale Hawkins in 1957, helping to launch a long career in the music business as an artist, producer and record company executive. CCR took the song to even greater heights, with the track, split over two sides of a 45 RPM single, barely missing the top 10 in 1968. The band's first greatest hits collection, Creedence Gold, uses the album version, while later compilations such as Chronicle only include the first side of the single.<br /><br />Artist: Initial Shock<br />Title: Mind Disaster<br />Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 8-The Northwest (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Mojo Collins<br />Label: Rhino (original label: BFD)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Although they were originally formed in 1966 in Missoula, Montana, the Initial Shock, consisting of Mojo Collins, (guitar, lead vocals), Brian Knaff, (drums, vocals),George F. Wallace, (lead guitar) and Steve Garr, (bass) were a fixture on the San Francisco scene by mid-1967, where they shared the bill with just about every major Bay Area group, even headlining one gig with the Doobie Brothers opening for them. They never scored a major record deal, however, and only ended up releasing a pair of singles for the independent BFD label. The second, and most popular of the two, was Mind Disaster, written by Collins and released in 1968. Internal problems led to the Initial Shock disbanding in 1969.<br /><br />Artist: Amboy Dukes<br />Title: Journey To The Center Of The Mind<br />Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From The Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Journey To The Center Of The Mind)<br />Writer(s): Nugent/Farmer<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Mainstream)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Detroit was one of the major centers of pop music in the mid to late 60s. In addition to the myriad Motown acts, the area boasted the popular retro-rock&roll band Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, the harder rocking Bob Seger and the Heard, the non-Motown R&B band the Capitols, and Ted Nugent's outfit, the Amboy Dukes, who scored big in 1968 with Journey To The Center Of The Mind. <br /><br />Artist: Hollies<br />Title: Stop Stop Stop<br />Source: CD: The Best of 60s Supergroups (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Clarke/Hicks/Nash<br />Label: Priority (original label: Imperial)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The last Hollies song to be released in 1966 was Stop Stop Stop, a tune that was actually a rewrite of a 1964 B side. The song was written by Allan Clarke, Terry Hicks and Graham Nash, and was one of the first songs to be published under their actual names (as opposed to the fictional L. Ransford). The song itself was a major hit, going into the top 10 in eight countries, including the US, UK and Canada. <br /><br />Artist: Mouse And The Traps<br />Title: Beg Borrow And Steal<br />Source: Mono British import CD: The Fraternity Years (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Ronnie Weiss<br />Label: Big Beat (original label: Fraternity)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Mouse and the Traps released over a dozen singles for the Fraternity label in the late 1960s, but never recorded an album. The group was quite popular in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, playing virtually every college in the region, often opening for big name acts like the Byrds, the Yardbirds and even Sonny & Cher. Their records were played on radio stations as far east as Virginia and the Carolinas, often making the top 10 in individual markets, but never in more than one or two places at the same time, thanks to Fraternity's poor national distribution system. One of the band's best songs was actually a B side released in December of 1967. If Beg Borrow And Steal (alternately known as Lie, Beg, Borrow and Steal) had been released a couple years earlier, it might have been a hit in its own right, but by late 1967 the garage-rock sound had already run its course. The song has since appeared on several garage-rock compilations and is considered a classic example of mid-60s Texas rock. <br /> <br />Artist: Steve Miller Band<br />Title: Roll With It<br />Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Children Of The Future)<br />Writer: Steve Miller<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Right from the beginning, the Steve Miller band stood out stylistically from other San Francisco area bands. This was in part because Miller was only recently arrived from Chicago (by way of Texas), which had a music tradition of its own. But a lot of the credit has to go to Miller himself, who had the sense to give his bandmates (such as his college buddy Boz Scaggs) the freedom to provide songs for the band in addition to his own material. One example of the latter is Roll With It from the group's 1968 debut LP, Children Of The Future. <br /><br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-80165285735002222152024-03-03T04:28:00.000-08:002024-03-03T04:28:47.764-08:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2410 (starts 3/4/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/519401 </p><p><br /> This week Rockin' in the Days of Confusion gets lucky with a baker's dozen of tunes ranging from 1968 to 1974...and then back down a bit.<br /><br />Artist: Santana<br />Title: Hope You're Feeling Better<br />Source: CD: Abraxas<br />Writer(s): Gregg Rolie<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1970<br /> Gregg Rolie's Hope You're Feeling Better was the third single to be taken from Santana's Abraxas album. Although not as successful as either Black Magic Woman or Oye Como Va, the song nonetheless received considerable airplay on progressive FM rock stations and has appeared on several compilation anthems since its initial release.<br /><br />Artist: Neil Young<br />Title: The Loner<br />Source: LP: The Big Ball (originally released on LP: Neil Young)<br />Writer(s): Neil Young<br />Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1968<br /> The Loner could easily have been passed off as a Buffalo Springfield song. In addition to singer/songwriter/guitarist Neil Young, the tune features Springfield members Jim Messina on bass and George Grantham on drums. Since Buffalo Springfield was functionally defunct by the time the song was ready for release, however, it instead became Young's first single as a solo artist. The song first appeared, in a longer form, on Young's first solo album in late 1968, with the single appearing three months later. The subject of The Loner has long been rumored to be Young's bandmate Stephen Stills, or possibly Young himself. As usual, Neil Young ain't sayin'.<br /><br />Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival<br />Title: Fortunate Son<br />Source: CD: Chronicle (originally released on LP: Willy And The Poor Boys and as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): John Fogerty<br />Label: Fantasy<br />Year: 1969<br /> John Fogerty says it only took him 20 minutes to write what has become one of the iconic antiwar songs of the late 1960s. But Fortunate Son is not so much a condemnation of war as it is an indictment of the political elite who send the less fortunate off to die in wars without any risk to themselves. In addition to being a major hit upon its release in late 1969 (peaking at #3 as half of a double-A sided single), Fortunate Son has made several "best of" lists over the years, including Rolling Stone magazine's all-time top 100. Additionally, in 2014 the song was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Not bad for a song that was initially neglected by many radio stations in favor of its flip side, Down On The Corner.<br /><br />Artist: Traffic<br />Title: John Barleycorn<br />Source: LP: John Barleycorn Must Die<br />Writer(s): Traditional<br />Label: Island (original label: United Artists)<br />Year: 1970<br /> Following the breakup of Blind Faith in late 1969, Steve Winwood began work on what was to be his first solo LP. After completing one track on which he played all the instruments himself, Winwood decided to ask former Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi to help him out with the project. After the second track was completed, Winwood invited yet another former Traffic member, Chris Wood, to add woodwinds. It soon became obvious that what they were working on was, in fact, a new Traffic album, which came to be called John Barleycorn must die. In addition to the blues/R&B tinged rock that the group was already well known for, the new album incorporated elements from traditional British folk music, which was enjoying a renaissance thanks to groups such as the Pentangle and Fairport Convention. The best example of this new direction was the title track of the album itself, which traces its origins back to the days when England was more agrarian in nature.<br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: Love Her Madly<br />Source: CD: The Best Of The Doors (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): The Doors<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1971 <br /> 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. <br /><br />Artist: Steely Dan<br />Title: Only A Fool Would Say That<br />Source: CD: Can't Buy A Thrill<br />Writer(s): Becker/Fagan<br />Label: MCA (original label: ABC)<br />Year: 1972<br /> Steely Dan's first album, Can't Buy A Thrill, is best known for its two hit singles, Do It Again and Reeling In The Years. The LP, however, has plenty more good tracks, including Only A Fool Would Say That, which also appeared as a B side. <br /><br />Artist: Alice Cooper<br />Title: Billion Dollar Babies<br />Source: CD: Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Billion Dollar Babies and as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Cooper/Bruce/Reggie<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1973<br /> People tend to forget that Alice Cooper was originally the name of a band rather than an individual. As a band, their best work came from collaboration between the various group members. This was still true in 1973, when the song Billion Dollar Babies became a top 40 hit single. Taken from the album of the same name, the song features guest vocalist Donovan trading off licks with Vince Furnier, who by then had taken Alice Cooper as a stage name. The group would only release one more LP before Furnier left for a solo career, taking the name <br />Alice Cooper with him. <br /><br />Artist: Gentle Giant<br />Title: Aspirations<br />Source: CD: The Power And The Glory<br />Writer(s): Shulman/Minnear/Shulman<br />Label: Alucard (original label: Capitol)<br />Year: 1974<br /> The Power And The Glory is a 1974 album by Gentle Giant that focuses on an individual that chooses politics as a means to make the world a better place. Like his predecessors, however, he becomes corrupted by power and ultimately becomes that which he originally fought against. The piece called Aspirations is a prayer to a higher power for guidance, reflecting the initial idealism of the protagonist. As of 2014, The Power And The Glory is available on Blu-Ray, with each song fully animated with various abstract patterns and all the lyrics displayed prominently on the screen. The latter makes a huge difference in the ability to enjoy the album, as Gentle Giant's vocals are often hard to decipher. <br /><br />Artist: Premiati Forneria Marconi<br />Title: The Mountain<br />Source: Italian import CD: The World Became The World<br />Writer(s): Mussida/Sinfield/Mogol/Pagani<br />Label: Sony Music/RCA (original label: Manticore)<br />Year: 1974<br /> Although the genre known as progressive rock (sometimes called art-rock) enjoyed a measure of popularity in the early 1970s, it was never THE most popular genre in rock....except in one country. Maybe because of a classical music tradition that generally acknowledges it as the birthplace of opera, Italy took to prog rock in a big way. In fact, for a time the most popular band in the country was Emerson, Lake & Palmer, followed closely by Premiati Forneria Marconi, an Italian band whose name translates as the Award Winning Marconi Bakery. PFM (as they were usually known) were the first Italian rock band to have success outside of Italy, releasing five albums with English lyrics from 1973-77. Most of these lyrics were provided by Peter Sinfield, who was also providing lyrics for Emerson, Lake & Palmer on their Brain Salad Surgery album. One of the most popular of these was The World Became The World, released in 1974. The album opens with The Mountain, a piece that includes a synthesized choir. <br /><br />Artist: Robin Trower<br />Title: Lady Love<br />Source: CD: Essential Robin Trower (originally released on LP: Bridge Of Sighs)<br />Writer(s): Trower/Dewar<br />Label: Chrysalis<br />Year: 1974<br /> It says a lot about the quality of an album like Robin Trower's Bridge Of Sighs that even one of the weaker tracks like Lady Love, ended up being included on the compilation album Essential Robin Trower. Like many hot guitarists, Trower did not do his own singing on the album. Vocals were provided by bassist James Dewar, who also co-wrote Lady Love.<br /><br />Artist: Badfinger<br />Title: Baby Blue<br />Source: 45 RPM single <br />Writer(s): Pete Ham<br />Label: Apple<br />Year: 1972<br /> The most successful band on the Apple label not to include former members of the Beatles, Badfinger had a string of hit singles in the early 1970s that helped define the genre that would come to be known as power pop. One of the best of these was Baby Blue, released in 1972. The song, like most Badfinger singles, was written by lead vocalist/guitarist Pete Ham.<br /><br />Artist: Janis Joplin<br />Title: Cry Baby<br />Source: LP: Pearl<br />Writer(s): Ragovoy/Berns<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1971<br /> Janis Joplin's only hit single with Big Brother and the Holding Company was Piece Of My Heart, a song written by legendary songwriters Jerry Ragavoy and Bert Berns. For her 1971 album Pearl, Joplin went with an earlier collaboration between the two that had originally been a hit in the early 60s for Garnet Mimms. Within a few months Cry Baby had become so thoroughly identified with Joplin that few even remembered Mimms's version of the song.<br /><br />Artist: Wishbone Ash<br />Title: Queen Of Torture<br />Source: CD: Wishbone Ash<br />Writer: Upton/Turner/Turner/Powell<br />Label: MCA (original label: Decca)<br />Year: 1970<br /> One of the first bands to use dual lead guitars was Wishbone Ash. When Glen Turner, the band's original guitarist, had to leave, auditions were held, but the remaining members and their manager couldn't decide between the two finalists, Andy Powell and Ted Turner, so they hired both of them. Queen Of Torture, from their 1969 debut album, shows just how well the two guitars meshed. <br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-24378958562359188882024-02-25T01:48:00.000-08:002024-02-25T01:48:06.148-08:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2409 (starts 2/26/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/518441 </p><p><br /> This week, in our second hour, Stuck in the Psychedelic Era takes A Look At Bear's Sonic Journals. Owsley Stanley, known as Bear to his friends, was constantly looking for ways to improve his skills as a live sound man for the Grateful Dead and other San Francisco bands. Starting around 1966, Bear began taping every performance he did sound on, listening back to what he called his "sonic journals' in order to critique his own work, often in the company of the performers themselves. Over a period of about 15 years Bear managed to accumulate in excess of 1300 reels of live performances in a variety of venues, including the legendary Carousel Ballroom (later known as the Fillmore West) and it's New York counterpart, the Fillmore East. Since Bear's death in 2011 his family and friends formed the Owsley Stanley Foundation to preserve and, when necessary, restore these Sonic Journals. To finance the project, the Foundation has released a series of CDs featuring a variety of artists ranging from Johnny Cash to the Allman Brothers Band. This week we present excerpts from some of these CDs, including an extended look at the latest release of the Bear's Sonic Journals: Sing Out, a benefit concert recorded on April 25, 1981 at the Berkeley Community Theater, with additional commentary from Hawk Semins, one of the founders of the Owsley Stanley Foundation. For the first hour the emphasis is on album tracks, with a couple of singles tossed in for good measure. It all begins with an "impossible" battle of the bands featuring one group that stopped doing live performances around the same time as the other was being formed.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Tomorrow Never Knows<br />Source: CD: Revolver<br />Writer: Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Capitol/EMI<br />Year: 1966<br /> A few years ago I started to compile an (admittedly subjective) list of the top psychedelic songs ever recorded. Although I never finished ranking the songs, one of the top contenders for the number one spot was the Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows, from the Revolver album. The recording is one of the first to use studio techniques such as backwards masking on the lead guitar track and various tape loops throughout, and has been hailed as a studio masterpiece.<br /><br />Artist: Chocolate Watch Band<br />Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In) (originally released on LP: No Way Out and as 45 RPM single)<br />Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk<br />Writer: McElroy/Bennett<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1967<br /> It took me several years to sort out the convoluted truth behind the recorded works of San Jose, California's most popular local band, the Chocolate Watch Band. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in fact the work of studio musicians, there are a few tracks that are indeed the product of Dave Aguilar and company. Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In), a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watch Band's first album, is one of those few. Ironically, the song was co-written by Don Bennett, the studio vocalist whose voice was substituted for Aguilar's on a couple of other songs from the same album. According to legend, the band actually showed up at the movie studio without any songs prepared for the film, and learned to play and sing Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In) right there on the set. This, combined with the story of their first visit to a recording studio the previous year (a story for another time) shows one of the Watch Band's greatest strengths: the ability to pick up and perfect new material faster than anyone else. It also shows their overall disinterest in the recording process. This was a band that wanted nothing more than to play live, often outperforming the big name bands they opened for. <br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Savoy Truffle<br />Source: CD: The Beatles<br />Writer(s): George Harrison<br />Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)<br />Year: 1968<br /> George Harrison's skills as a songwriter continued to develop in 1968. The double-LP The Beatles (aka the White Album) contained four Harrison compositions, including Savoy Truffle, a tongue-in-cheek song about Harrison's friend Eric Clapton's fondness for chocolate. John Lennon did not participate in the recording of Savoy Truffle. The keyboards were probably played by Chris Thomas, who, in addition to playing on all four Harrison songs on the album, served as de facto producer when George Martin decided to take a vacation in the middle of the album's recording sessions. <br /><br />Artist: Chocolate Watchband<br />Title: No Way Out<br />Source: Mono British import CD: Melts In Your Brain, Not On Your Wrist (originally released on LP: No Way Out and as a 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer: Ed Cobb<br />Label: Big Beat (original label:Tower)<br />Year: 1967<br /> The Chocolate Watchband, from the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area (specifically Foothills Junior College in Los Altos Hills), were fairly typical of the south bay music scene, centered in San Jose. Although they were generally known for lead vocalist Dave Aguilar's ability to channel Mick Jagger with uncanny accuracy, producer Ed Cobb gave them a more psychedelic sound in the studio with the use of studio effects and other enhancements (including adding tracks to their albums that were performed entire by studio musicians). Cobb also pulled other questionable stuff, such as taking credit for the finished version of the song No Way Out, despite the fact that the basic tracks came from a jam session recorded months earlier by the band itself.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: I Want To Tell You<br />Source: Mono CD: Revolver<br />Writer(s): George Harrison<br />Label: Capitol/EMI<br />Year: 1966<br /> The first pre-recorded reel-to-reel tape I ever bought was the Capitol version of the Beatles' Revolver album, which I picked up about a year after the LP was released. Although my Dad's tape recorder had small built-in speakers, his Koss headphones had far superior sound, which led to me sleeping on the couch in the living room with the headphones on. Hearing songs like I Want To Tell You on factory-recorded reel-to-reel tape through a decent pair of headphones gave me an appreciation for just how well-engineered Revolver was, and also inspired me to (eventually) learn my own way around a recording studio. The song itself, by the way, is one of three George Harrison songs on Revolver; the most on any Beatle album up to that point, and a major reason that, when pressed, I almost always end up citing Revolver as my favorite Beatles LP.<br /><br />Artist: Chocolate Watchband (recording as The Hogs)<br />Title: Blues Theme<br />Source: Mono CD: One Step Beyond (originally released as 45 RPM single) <br />Writer(s): Curb/Allen<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: HBR)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The Chocolate Watchband's first experience in a recording studio came in October of 1966. The band had set up and was getting their sound levels checked when a friend of the producer burst into the studio with the news that the latest "hot thing" was a new movie called the Wild Ones. Davie Allen and the Arrows had cut something called Blues Theme for the soundtrack, and the word was that there were no plans to release the song as a single. Sensing an opportunity, the producer asked the band if they could record their own version of Blues Theme. The Watchband, even at that early point, had a knack for doing convincing covers on a moment's notice, and by the time the session was over they had cut a credible version of Blues Theme. The record was quickly released on the Hanna Barbera (yes, the cartoon people) label, but as by the Hogs rather than the Chocolate Watchband. Although I don't know why this was done, I do have a couple theories. It's entirely possible that the band signed their contract with Tower Records before Blues Theme was released, in which case Tower would naturally forbid the use of the name Chocolate Watchband by another label. Or it could simply be that the unknown producers at HBR felt that a name like the Hogs was more appropriate for a song used in a biker flick. We may never know for sure.<br /><br />Artist: Cream<br />Title: I'm So Glad<br />Source: Mono British import LP: Cream (originally released on LP: Fresh Cream)<br />Writer(s): Skip James<br />Label: Polydor (original US label: Atco)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Unlike later albums, which featured psychedelic cover art and several Jack Bruce/Pete Brown collaborations that had a decidedly psychedelic sound, Fresh Cream was marketed as the first album by a British blues supergroup, and featured a greater number of blues standards than subsequent releases. One of those covers that became a concert staple for the band was the old Skip James tune I'm So Glad. The song has become so strongly associated with Cream that the group used it as the opening number for all three performances when they staged a series of reunion concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in 2004. Unlike the rest of the songs on Fresh Cream, I'm So Glad was never mixed in stereo.<br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: Fire<br />Source: LP: The Essential Jimi Hendrix volume two (originally released on LP: Are You Experienced)<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: Reprise<br />Year: 1967<br /> Sometime in late 1966 Jimi Hendrix was visiting his girlfriend's mother's house in London for the first time. It was a cold rainy night and Jimi immediately noticed that there was a dog curled up in front of the fireplace. Jimi's first action was to scoot the dog out of the way so he himself could benefit from the fire's warmth, using the phrase "Move over Rover and let Jimi take over." The phrase got stuck in his head and eventually became the basis for one of his most popular songs. Although never released as a single, Fire was a highlight of the Jimi Hendrix Experience's live performances, often serving as a set opener. <br /><br />Artist: Odyssey<br />Title: Little Girl, Little Boy<br />Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Jerry Berke<br />Label: Rhino<br />Year: 1968 <br /> As far as I can tell, the Odyssey, a band of L.A. garage-rockers, only cut one record before disbanding, a tune called Little Girl, Little Boy that appeared on White Whale Records. The record was produced by Howard Kaylan, lead vocalist of White Whale's biggest act, the Turtles.<br /><br />Artist: 13th Floor Elevators<br />Title: Fire Engine<br />Source: CD: The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators<br />Writer(s): Hall/Sutherland/Erickson<br />Label: Collectables (original label: International Artists)<br />Year: 1966<br /> 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. <br /><br />Artist: Status Quo<br />Title: Pictures Of Matchstick Men<br />Source: Simulated stereo CD: British Beat (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Francis Rossi<br />Label: K-Tel (original label: Cadet Concept)<br />Year: 1968<br /> The band with the most charted singles in the UK is not the Beatles or even the Rolling Stones. It is, in fact, Status Quo, quite possibly the nearest thing to a real life version of Spinal Tap. Except for Pictures of Matchstick Men, the group has never had a hit in the US. On the other hand, they remain popular in Scandanavia, playing to sellout crowds on a regular basis (yes, they are still together). <br /><br />Artist: Kaleidoscope (UK)<br />Title: A Dream For Julie<br />Source: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Daltry/Pumer<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Fontana)<br />Year: 1968<br /> There were two different bands simultaneously using the name Kaleidoscope in the late 1960s, one in the US and one in the UK. The American Kaleidoscope, like many other West Coast bands, was basically electrified jug band music. The British band of the same name, like many other English groups, established their psychedelic credentials through the use of fantasy-oriented lyrics like "Strawberry monkeys are smiling for Julie, with small button eyes that reflect velvet flowers." Holy Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Batman!<br /><br />Artist: Leigh Stephens<br />Title: If You Choose To<br />Source: LP: Red Weather<br />Writer: Stephens/Albronda<br />Label: Philips<br />Year: 1969<br /> After two albums lead guitarist Leigh Stephens left Blue Cheer to work on solo projects. The resulting album, Red Weather, was recorded in England and included some of the UK's top session players such as keyboardist Nicky Hopkins and drummer Mick Waller. Most of the compositions on Red Weather are credited to Stephens alone, although a couple, including If You Choose To, were co-written by co-producer Eric Albronda, who had been the original Blue Cheer drummer. The album led directly to the formation of the band Silver Metre, which included Stephens, Waller, bassist Pete Sears and vocalist Jack Reynolds. Later Stephens bands included Pilot, Foxtrot and Chronic With A K.<br /><br />Artist: Procol Harum<br />Title: Still There'll Be More<br />Source: LP: Home<br />Writer(s): Brooker/Reid<br />Label: A&M<br />Year: 1970<br /> Before there was Procol Harum, there was the Paramounts. In fact, after three albums, Procol Harum actually was the Paramounts, although they continued to use the name Procol Harum. The Paramounts had gone through countless personnel changes before disbanding in 1967, when pianist Gary Brooker and dedicated lyricist Keith Reid left to form Procol Harum with organist Matthew Fisher. Other members at the time included guitarist Robin Trower, bassist Chris Copping and drummer B.J. Wilson, all of which would be members of Procol Harum on their fourth LP, Home. Working with producer Chris Thomas, the album, including songs like Still There'll Be More, was completed at Abbey Road Studios in early 1970 and released in June of that year. <br /> <br />Artist: Standells<br />Title: Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go<br />Source: CD: Dirty Water<br />Writer(s): Billy Roberts<br />Label: Sundazed/Tower<br />Year: 1966<br /> One of several fast versions of Hey Joe released in 1966 was included on the Standells album, Dirty Water. Using the title Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go, the song was credited to Chet Powers, aka Dino Valenti. One rumor was the the actual songwriter, Billy Roberts, assigned rights to the song over to Valenti to help him raise funds to defend himself on marijuana possession charges, but that has never been proven.<br /><br />Artist: Love Exchange<br />Title: Swallow The Sun<br />Source: LP: Nuggets vol. 10-Folk Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): John Merrill<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Uptown)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Comparisons have been made between the Love Exchange and another Los Angeles band, the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. It only makes sense, after all, since both groups were best described as "psychedelic folk-rock" and both were fronted by a female vocalist. In the case of the Love Exchange, this was 16-year-old Bonnie Blunt. What really invites the comparison, however, is the fact that the Love Exchange's best-known song (and only single) Swallow The Sun was written by John Merrill, leader of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. Despite their lack of recording success, the Love Exchange lasted until 1969, with their last appearance being at the Newport '69 Pop Festival.<br /><br />Artist: Savage Resurrection<br />Title: Thing In "E"<br />Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: The Savage Resurrection)<br />Writer(s): John Palmer<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Like many areas across the US during the mid-1960s, Contra Costa County, California (say that a few times fast) was home to a thriving local music scene, particularly in the city of Richmond. In 1967 members of several local bands got together to form a sort of garage supergroup, calling themselves Savage Resurrection (so called because of the Native American heritage of a couple of band members). The band, consisting of lead vocalist Bill Harper, lead guitarist Randy Hammon, rhythm guitarist John Palmer, bassist Steve Lage and drummer Jeff Myer, was quite popular locally despite the relative youth of its members (Hammon, for instance, was all of 16 years old), and soon signed a management contract with Matthew Katz, who also managed such well-known San Francisco bands as Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape and It's A Beautiful Day. Katz got the band a contract with Mercury records, and their first and only LP came out in 1968. Thing In "E" was the single from that album, which is still considered one of the best examples of psychedelic garage rock ever recorded. Touring soon took its toll, however, and Harper and Lage left the band soon after the album was released. The rest of the band continued with new members for a few months, but by the end of 1968 Savage Resurrection was little more than a footnote to the San Francisco music story. <br /><br />Artist: Jefferson Airplane<br />Title: Embryonic Journey<br />Source: Mono LP: Surrealistic Pillow<br />Writer(s): Jorma Kaukonen<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: RCA Victor)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Jorma Kaukonen originally considered Embryonic Journey to be little more than a practice exercise. Other members of Jefferson Airplane insisted he record it, however, and it has since come to be identified as a kind of signature song for the guitarist, who played the tune live when the band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.<br /><br />Artist: Big Brother And The Holding Company<br />Title: Flower In The Sun<br />Source: CD: Live At The Carousel Ballroom-1968 (originally releasd on LP: Joplin In Concert)<br />Writer(s): Sam Andrew<br />Label: Columbia/Legacy<br />Year: Recorded 1968, released 1972<br /> Sam Houston Andrew III is one of the more overlooked talents of the late 1960s San Francisco music scene. Born in 1941, Andrew was a military brat who, at the age of 17, was the host of his own TV show in Okinawa, Japan, as well as leader of the show's house band. His father was transferred to a base in California shortly after Andrew graduated high school, and Andrew soon became involved with the San Francisco music scene. In 1966 he and Peter Albin formed Big Brother And The Holding Company, a band that would, by the end of the year, include vocalist Janis Joplin. Following the release of the hit album Cheap Thrills in 1968, Andrew and Joplin left Big Brother to form the Kozmic Blues Band. Less than a year later Andrew returned to Big Brother And The Holding Company, becoming the band's musical director until his death in 2015. Andrew was Big Brother's most prolific songwriter (he had written his first song at age 6), contributing songs like Combination Of The Two (the band's usual set opener) and Flower In The Sun, the studio version of which was intended for inclusion on Cheap Thrills but cut when it was decided to include a live version of Big Mama Thornton's Ball And Chain on the LP. A live recording of Flower In The Sun, recorded on June 23, 1968 at the Carousel Ballroom, was included on the LP Joplin In Concert in 1972. The complete performance of that Carousel Ballroom show, taken directly from Owsley Stanley's sound board, was made available in 2012 as the first release in the Bear's Sonic Journals series.<br /> <br />Artist: Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady with Joey Covington<br />Title: Through The Golden Gate<br />Source: CD: Before We Were Them: June 28,1969<br />Writer(s): Casady/Kaukonen<br />Label: Bear's Sonic Journals<br />Year: Recorded 1969, released 2018<br /> "We had it all going on, what musicians and artists throughout time have hoped to have-places to play and experiment and audiences that were with you as you explored and developed" These words by Jack Casady from the liner notes of the third release in the Bear's Sonic Journals series are perhaps the best description of the psychedelic era that I have ever run across. By mid-1969 Jefferson Airplane had already hit their creative peak as a band and the band members were starting to move in different musical directions. One of these directions, taken by guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady, would result in the creation of a new band, Hot Tuna, that would make its official debut later in the year. In June, however, it was simply Jorma and Jack, along with Joey Covington, who would eventually become Jefferson Airplane's drummer. The trio did a series of gigs from June 27-29, including a show at the Vets Memorial Building in Santa Rosa, Ca. that was recorded by the legendary Owsley Stanley. In addition to blues standards like Rock Me Baby and Airplane songs like Star Track, the gig included several improvisational pieces that remained untitled until the release of a CD called Before We Were Them: June 28,1969. Through The Golden Gate is the longest of these improvisational instrumentals. <br /><br />Artist: Allman Brothers Band<br />Title: In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed<br />Source: CD: Fillmore East February 1970<br />Writer(s): Dicky Betts<br />Label: Owsley Stanley Foundation/The Allman Brothers Band Recording Company (Bear's Sonic Journals series)<br />Year: Recorded 1970, released 1997, remastered 2018<br /> One of the greatest instrumentals in rock history, In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed was written by Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dicky Betts. The song got it's name from a headstone that Betts saw at the Rose Hill Cemetary in Macon, Georgia. That same cemetary is where band members Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are now buried. The band had only just begun to work the new instrumental into its setlist (as the set opener) when they were invited to open for the Grateful Dead for three nights at the Fillmore East in February of 1970. As the Allman Brothers did not, at that time, have their own soundman, Owsley "Bear" Stanley ran the board, and, as was his habit, had a tape machine running with a feed from the soundboard the entire time there was music being made. The tapes of the Allman Brothers' performance were first released in 1997 by Stanley himself; in 2018 his son Starfinder and a team of engineers remastered the entire set for the Bear's Sonic Journals series of releases.<br /><br />Artist: Country Joe McDonald<br />Title: Save The Whales<br />Source: CD: Sing Out!<br />Writer(s): Joe McDonald<br />Label: Bear's Sonic Journals<br />Year: Recorded 1981, released 2024<br /> Following an introduction by Wavy Gravy, Country Joe McDonald was the first artist to take the stage for Sing Out, a benefit concert for the Seva Foundation at the Berkeley Community Theatre on April 25, 1981. His first song of the evening was Save The Whales, done in a style resembling nothing so much as an old English sea chanty.<br /><br />Artist: Jerry Garcia/Bob Weir/Mickey Hart/Bill Kreutzmann/John Kahn (aka the Not Dead)<br />Title: Friend Of The Devil<br />Source: CD: Sing Out!<br />Writer(s): Hunter/Garcia/Dawson<br />Label: Bear's Sonic Journals<br />Year: Recorded 1981, released 2024<br /> Although no one realized it at the time, the Sing Out benefit concert for the Seva Foundation at the Berkeley Community Theatre on April 25, 1981 would be the last time Owsley Stanley recorded members of the Grateful Dead in concert. The all-acoustic set by the group that was nicknamed the "Not Dead" included a slowed-down version of Friend Of The Devil that was unique to that performance.<br /><br />Artist: Jerry Garcia/Bob Weir/Mickey Hart/Bill Kreutzmann/John Kahn (aka the Not Dead)<br />Title: Oh Boy<br />Source: CD: Sing Out!<br />Writer(s): West/Tilghman/Petty<br />Label: Bear's Sonic Journals<br />Year: Recorded 1981, released 2024<br /> To close out their set at the Sing Out benefit concert for the Seva Foundation at the Berkeley Community Theatre on April 25, 1981, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir banged out a short, but energetic rendition of Buddy Holly's Oh Boy. Although the Grateful Dead had only performed the song electrically once, in 1971, both Garcia and Weir were obviously quite familiar with the tune, and it's entirely possible they had played it together as early as 1965, when the band was still known as the Warlocks.<br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-30897136887146425522024-02-25T01:26:00.000-08:002024-02-25T01:30:51.713-08:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2409 (starts 2/26/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/518440 </p><p><br /> We start this week with a set of tunes from 1971, including an extended version of a song from Grand Funk Railroad's Survival album. From there it's a freeform set that mixes a couple of popular singles with seldom heard album tracks from people like Tommy Bolin and Joy Of Cooking and finishes with a nice instrumental jam from Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and friends.<br /><br />Artist: Five Man Electrical Band<br />Title: Signs<br />Source: Mono 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Les Emerson<br />Label: Lionel<br />Year: 1971<br /> Everybody has at least one song they have fond memories of hearing on the radio while riding around in a friend's car on a hot summer evening. Signs, from Canada's Five Man Electrical Band, is one of mine. <br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: L.A. Woman<br />Source: LP: L.A. Woman<br />Writer(s): The Doors<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1971<br /> Ray Manzarek became justifiably famous as the keyboard player for the Doors. Before joining up with Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger and John Densmore, however, Manzarek was already making a name for himself as an up-and-coming student filmmaker at UCLA. Although he didn't have much of a need to pursue a career in films once the Doors hit it big, he did end up producing and directing an outstanding video for the title track of the 1971 album L.A. Woman years after the band had split up. I only mention this because, really, what else can I say about a song that you've probably heard a million times or so?<br /><br />Artist: Yes<br />Title: Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (Schindleria Praematuris)<br />Source: CD: Fragile<br />Writer(s): Anderson/Squire<br />Label: Atlantic<br />Year: 1971<br /> The fourth Yes album, Fragile, introduced the "classic" Yes lineup of John Anderson (vocals), Bill Bruford (drums), Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass) and Rick Wakemen (keyboards), and features some of the band's best known songs. Among the most popular is Long Distance Runaround, which was also released as the B side of the hit single Roundabout. Anderson's lyrics express his disillusionment with "the craziness of religion" and intolerance of other viewpoints in general, including opposition to the war in Vietnam. On the album, the song segues directly into The Fish (Schindleria Praematuris), a mostly instrumental piece written by Squire, with a vocal refrain by Anderson repeating the name of a species of prehistoric fish toward the end of the track.<br /><br />Artist: Wishbone Ash<br />Title: Jail Bait<br />Source: LP: Pilgrimage<br />Writer(s): Powell/Turner/Upton/Turner<br />Label: MCA (original US label: Decca)<br />Year: 1971<br /> Although Wishbone Ash's second LP, Pilgrimage, saw the group moving away from blues rock toward a more layered sound, the most popular song on the album was as good a straight blues rocker as you're likely to ever hear. Jail Bait soon became a concert staple for the band. <br /><br />Artist: Grand Funk Railroad<br />Title: Country Road (unedited original version)<br />Source: CD: Survival (bonus track)<br />Writer(s): Mark Farner<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1971<br /> The opening track of the fourth Grand Funk Railroad studio album, Survival, was a Mark Farner composition called Country Road. The song was probably chosen to open Survival because of its stylistic consistency with earlier Grand Funk Railroad albums. The version of Country Road heard on the album, however, differs significantly from the original seven and a half minute version of the song heard here. This original version includes a second verse and an entire new section not included on the album itself. Is it better? That's for you to decide. <br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Tumbling Dice<br />Source: Mono 45 RPM promo single<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: Rolling Stones<br />Year: 1972<br /> The lead single from what is sometimes cited as the Rolling Stones' greatest album, Exile On Main Street, Tumbling Dice was a top 10 single on both sides of the Atlantic, hitting #5 in the UK and #7 in the US. The song started off as a piece called Good Time Woman, but was reworked on August 4, 1971, with a new intro riff and a bass track played by Mick Taylor (Bill Wyman being away from the studio at the time the track was recorded). <br /><br />Artist: Joy Of Cooking<br />Title: Three-Day Loser<br />Source: CD: Castles<br />Writer: Terry Garthwaite<br />Label: Acadia (original label: Capitol)<br />Year: 1972 <br /> Joy of Cooking was unique among folk-rock groups in that it was co-led by two female artists: Multi-instrumentalist Toni Brown and guitarist Terry Garthwaite, who sang lead vocals as well. Between the two of them, they wrote all the band's original tunes. The rest of the lineup was Fritz Kasten on drums, Jeff Neighbor on bass and Ron Wilson on harp, tambourine and congas. After recording their second album in Los Angeles, the group opted to return to their native Berkeley for their third and final LP, Castles. Garthwaite's unique style of singing and songwriting can be heard on tracks like Three-Day Loser, and presaged her shift to a more jazz-oriented sound as a solo artist.<br /><br />Artist: Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers<br />Title: Breakdown<br />Source: LP: Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers<br />Writer(s): Tom Petty<br />Label: MCA (original label: Shelter)<br />Year: 1976<br /> Just about everyone knows thatTom Petty was one of the most popular rock stars of the 1980s and beyond, but few realize that he released his debut single, Breakdown, in November of 1976, and was considered part of the punk/new wave movement at the time. It took over a year for his debut LP with the Heartbreakers to catch on in the US, but once it did it became obvious that Petty actually had little in common with bands like the Ramones or Sex Pistols. In fact, he was often compared to the Byrds, as well as early Rolling Stones. Breakdown itself is a bit of a departure from the rest of the album, but nonetheless has become a staple of classic rock radio.<br /><br />Artist: Tommy Bolin<br />Title: Gypsy Soul<br />Source: CD: Private Eyes<br />Writer(s): Bolin/Cook<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1976<br /> Following the breakup of Deep Purple, guitarist Tommy Bolin began work on his second solo LP, Private Eyes. Many of the tunes on the album, including Gypsy Soul, were co-written by Jeff Cook, who had been a bandmate of Bolin's in a group called American Standard when Bolin was still a teenager in Boulder, Colorado. Bolin's career had taken him from American Standard to another Boulder band, Ethereal Zephyr, which had shortened its name to Zephyr after signing a contract with ABC's Probe label. After two albums, Bolin left Zephyr at the age of 20 to form his own jazz-rock-blues fusion band called Energy. That band was unable to secure a recording contract, and Bolin briefly reunited with two of his Zephyr bandmates in a group called the 4-Nikators before taking a year off from playing professionally. During this time Bolin was far from inactive; in fact he wrote nearly a hundred songs during his hiatus from public performing. In 1973 he accepted an offer to become the third James Gang lead guitarist, replacing Dominic Troiano, who had in turn replaced Joe Walsh. While with the James Gang, Bolin was already showing signs of wanting to move on, contributing to Billy Cobham's Spectrum album in between the James Gang LPs Bang and Miami. After Miami he concentrated on session work for a while before beginning work on his first solo album, Teaser. Just before Teaser was released Bolin accepted an offer to replace Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple, which had the negative side effect of giving him virtually no time to promote his own album, which came out just one month after the last Deep Purple LP, Come Taste The Band. Although the album did moderately well, audiences expected Bolin's guitar work to sound like Blackmore's, which of course wasn't going to happen, and ultimately led to Deep Purple disbanding following their 1975-1976 tour. Bolin's second solo album, Private Eyes, was released in September of 1976. Bolin went on tour to promote the album, opening for Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck. On December 3rd he played his final show, opening for Beck. A few hours later he was found dead in his hotel room of a drug overdose. He was 25 years old.<br /><br />Artist: Mike Bloomfield/ Al Kooper/ Skip Prokop/John Kahn<br />Title: Her Holy Modal Highness<br />Source: LP: The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper<br />Writer(s): Bloomfield/Kooper<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1969<br /> With the unexpected success of the 1968 jam album Super Session, it was inevitable that Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield would release a followup LP, and probably just as inevitable that it would be a live album. Most of the tracks on The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper are covers of classics blues tunes, although there are a few jams that are credited to Bloomfield and Kooper as well. One of these, Her Holy Modal Highness, is a sequel of sorts to His Holy Modal Majesty, and instrumental track from Super Session. Like its predecessor, Her Holy Modal Highness uses the Kooperphone, a tubular keyboard instrument from Sweden technically known as a tubon, extensively.<br /><br />Artist: Brewer And Shipley<br />Title: One Toke Over The Line<br />Source: Stereo 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Brewer/Shipley<br />Label: Kama Sutra<br />Year: 1971<br /> Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley might be considered the link between the folk-rock of the late 1960s and the singer-songwriter movement of the early 1970s. The two of them had met on more than one occasion in the mid 1960s, doing coffeehouse gigs across the midwest, until both decided to settle down in Los Angeles and start writing songs together in 1968. After recording two albums together, the duo relocated to Kansas City in 1969, spending much of the next two years on the road, playing small towns such as Tarkio, Missouri, which in turn inspired the title for their third album, Tarkio. That album, released in 1971, included what was to be their biggest hit. One Toke Over The Line went to the #10 spot on the charts (#5 in Canada) and prompted the Vice President of the United States, Spiro Agnew, to denounce the song as "blatant drug-culture propaganda". Concerning the origin of the song itself, Mike Brewer had this to say: "One day we were pretty much stoned and all and Tom says, “Man, I’m one toke over the line tonight.” I liked the way that sounded and so I wrote a song around it." He said it was written as a joke as the duo was setting up for a gig. <br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-2709618481353255542024-02-17T22:14:00.000-08:002024-02-17T22:14:01.409-08:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2408 (starts 2/19/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/517533 </p><p><br /> This week the Gods smile down upon Stuck in the Psychedelic Era, gracing us with an entire album side of tunes from their 1968 LP Genesis. Also on the bill: an artists' set from the Leaves and a couple dozen more tunes, including a very early Lou Reed track.<br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Ruby Tuesday<br />Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: London<br />Year: 1967<br /> One of the most durable songs in the Rolling Stones catalog, Ruby Tuesday was originally intended to be the B side of their 1967 single Let's Spend The Night Together. Many stations, however, balked at the subject matter of the A side and began playing Ruby Tuesday instead, which is somewhat ironic considering speculations as to the subject matter of the song (usually considered to be about a groupie of the band's acquaintance, although Mick Jagger has said it was about Keith Richards' ex-girlfriend).<br /><br />Artist: Amboy Dukes<br />Title: The Lovely Lady<br />Source: German import CD: The Amboy Dukes<br />Writer(s): Steve Farmer<br />Label: Repertoire (original US label: Mainstream)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Although the Amboy Dukes are usually thought of as Ted Nugent's first band, their first couple of albums were actually more of a group effort, with rhythm guitarist Steve Farmer in particular having a much greater role in the creative process. His tune The Lovely Lady, from the first Amboy Dukes album, is actually a waltz, and has a much more psychedelic flavor that Nugent's harder rocking material.<br /><br />Artist: Yardbirds<br />Title: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Page/McCarty<br />Label: Epic<br />Year: 1967<br /> By 1967 the Yardbirds had moved far away from their blues roots and were on their fourth lead guitarist, studio whiz Jimmy Page. The band had recently picked up a new producer, Mickey Most, known mostly for his work with Herman's Hermits and the original Animals. Most had a tendency to focus on the band's single A sides, leaving Page an opportunity to develop his own songwriting and production skills on songs such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, a track that also shows signs of Page's innovative guitar style (including an instrumental break played with a violin bow) that would help define 70s rock.<br /><br />Artist: Who<br />Title: Hall Of The Mountain King<br />Source: CD: The Who Sell Out (bonus track)<br />Writer(s): Edvard Greig<br />Label: MCA<br />Year: 1967<br /> In the early 1960s various local instrumental rock and roll bands began to mix rocked out versions of classical pieces into their sets, such as Nut Rocker by B. Bumble And The Stingers (from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker). In the UK the most popular of these adaptations was Hall Of The Mountain King, from Greig's Peer Gynt Suite, which was actually recorded by several different bands. The Who did their own studio version of the piece in late 1967, although the recording was not released until 1995, as a bonus track on The Who Sell Out CD.<br /><br />Artist: Voice<br />Title: The Train To Disaster<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Hammill/Anderson<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Originally known as Karl Stuart and the Profiles, this London band changed their name to the Voice just in time for their third and final single for Mercury, an apocalyptic tune called The Train To Disaster that came out in April of 1966. The band members were reportedly associated with something called the Church of the Process. When the Church began to pressure lead guitarist Miller Anderson to divorce his wife, Anderson instead chose to divorce the Church (and the Voice). His replacement, Mick Ronson, had only been with the band a short time when the other members suddenly relocated to the Bahamas, leaving Ronson behind. Ronson, however, went on to become a member of David Bowie's band, the Spiders From Mars, while the rest of the Voice have not been heard from since. <br /><br />Artist: Byrds<br />Title: Eight Miles High<br />Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Fifth Dimension)<br />Writer(s): Clark/McGuinn/Crosby<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Gene Clark's final contribution to the Byrds was his collaboration with David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, Eight Miles High. Despite a newsletter from the influential Gavin Report advising stations not to play this "drug song", Eight Miles High managed to hit the top 20 in 1966. The band members themselves claimed that Eight Miles High was not a drug song at all, but was instead referring to the experience of travelling by air. In fact, it was Gene Clark's fear of flying, especially long intercontinental trips, that in part led to his leaving the Byrds.<br /><br />Artist: Simon and Garfunkel<br />Title: I Am A Rock<br />Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds of Silence)<br />Writer(s): Paul Simon<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1966<br /> The success of I Am A Rock, when released as a single in 1966, showed that the first Simon And Garfunkel hit, The Sound Of Silence, was no fluke. The two songs served as bookends to a very successful LP, Sounds Of Silence, and would lead to several more hit records before the two singers went their separate ways in 1970. This was actually the second time I Am A Rock had been issued as a single. An earlier version, from the Paul Simon Songbook, had been released in 1965. Both the single and the LP were only available for a short time and only in the UK, and were deleted at Simon's request.<br /><br />Artist: Syndicate Of Sound<br />Title: Little Girl<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Baskin/Gonzalez<br />Label: Bell<br />Year: 1966<br /> San Jose California, despite being a relatively small city in the pre-silicon valley days, was home to a thriving music scene in the mid 60s that produced more than its share of hit records from 1966-68. One of the earliest and biggest of these hits was the Syndicate Of Sound hit Little Girl, which has come to be recognized as one of the top garage-rock songs of all time. Little Girl was originally released regionally in mid 1966 on the Hush label, and reissued nationally by Bell Records a couple months later. <br /> <br />Artist: Leaves<br />Title: With None Shoes<br />Source: British import CD: All The Good That's Happening<br />Writer(s): Arlin/Beck<br />Label: Grapefruit (original US label: Capitol)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Following the national success of Hey Joe in 1966, popular L.A. club band the Leaves signed a deal with Capitol Records that resulted in the album All The Good That's Happening. Unfortunately, by 1967 the group was already beginning to fall apart and the album lacked a consistent sound, despite having some decent tunes such as With None Shoes, which opens the second side of the LP.<br /><br />Artist: Leaves<br />Title: Hey Joe<br />Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Billy Roberts <br />Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)<br />Year: 1966<br /> In 1966 there were certain songs you had to know how to play if you had any aspirations of being in a band. Among those were Louie Louie, Gloria and Hey Joe. The Byrds' David Crosby claims to have discovered Hey Joe, but was not able to convince his bandmates to record it before their third album. In the meantime, several other bands had recorded the song, including Love (on their first album) and the Leaves. The version of Hey Joe heard here is actually the third recording the Leaves made of the tune. After the first two versions tanked, guitarist Bobby Arlin, who had recently replaced founding member Bill Rinehart on lead guitar, came up with the idea of adding fuzz guitar to the song. It was the missing element that transformed a rather bland song into a hit record (the only national hit the Leaves would have). As a side note, the Leaves credited Chet Powers (aka Dino Valenti) as the writer of Hey Joe, but California-based folk singer Billy Roberts had copyrighted the song in 1962 and had reportedly been heard playing the tune as early as 1958.<br /><br />Artist: Leaves<br />Title: Flashback (The Rhythm Thing)<br />Source: British import CD: All The Good That's Happening<br />Writer(s): Arlin/Pons/Beck/Ray<br />Label: Grapefruit (original US label: Capitol)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The Leaves were already falling as they went to work on their second LP, All The Good That's Happening (their first for a major label). Many of the tracks on the album featured only one or two members of the band, while others, such as Flashback (The Rhythm Thing), were probably just warm-up jams that were done with the tape rolling and used to make up for the lack of actual recorded songs. <br /><br />Artist: Cream<br />Title: Politician (live version)<br />Source: LP: Goodbye<br />Writer(s): Bruce/Brown<br />Label: Atco<br />Year: 1969<br /> Usually the bluesier numbers performed by Cream were covers of classic works by guys like Willie Dixon (Spoonful), Muddy Waters (Rollin' and Tumblin') or Albert King (Sitting On Top Of The World). One notable exception is Politician, which was written by Cream's bassist Jack Bruce, with his songwriting partner Pete Brown. Usually the team came up with the band's more psychedelic stuff, but in this case proved that they could crank out a blues tune with the best of 'em when they wanted to. Originally released in studio form on the 1968 album Wheels Of Fire, the live version of Politician (which runs in excess of six minutes) was featured on the band's final LP, Goodbye Cream, which came out the following year. <br /><br />Artist: Fairport Convention<br />Title: It's Alright Ma, It's Only Witchcraft<br />Source: British import CD: Fairport Convention<br />Writer(s): Hutchings/Thompson<br />Label: Polydor (original US label: Cotillion)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Fairport Convention has long been known for being an important part of the British folk music revival that came to prominence in the early 70s. Originally, however, the band was modeled after the folk-rock bands that had risen to prominence on the US West Coast from 1965-66. Their first LP was released in June of 1968, and drew favorable reviews from the UK rock press, which saw them as Britain's answer to Jefferson Airplane. One of the LP's highlights is It's Alright, It's Only Witchcraft, which features electric guitar work by Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol that rivals that of Jorma Kaukonen. This album was not initially released in the US. Two years later, following the success of Fairport Convention's later albums with vocalist Sandy Denny on the A&M label, the band's first LP (with Judy Dyble, known as much for her habit of knitting sweaters onstage as for her vocals) was given a limited release on Atlantic's Cotillion subsidiary. This album should not be confused with the first Fairport Convention LP released in the US (in 1969), which was actually a retitling of the band's second British album, What We Did On Our Holidays.<br /><br />Artist: Gurus<br />Title: It Just Won't Be That Way<br />Source: Mono CD: The Gurus Are Hear! (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Jimmy Ryan<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: United Artists)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Gurus were not your usual garage band. They were, in fact, the creation of Ron Haffkine, co-owner of Café Feenjon, a Greenwich Village coffee house/club that specialized Middle Eastern decor and music, who came up with the idea of a Middle Eastern flavored rock band. He recruited John Lieto (vocals), Pete ''Blackwood'' Smith (guitar), Michael ''Jason'' Weinstein (bass, harmonica), Victor ''Vittorio'' King (drums), Medulla Oblongata (guitar), Jonathan Talbot (bass) and used his connections to get United Artists to release the band's first single in late 1966. The record's moderate sales led to the band choosing a cover of a Critters song, It Just Won't Be That Way, for their 1967 followup single. The group then got to work on an album, which was completed but for some reason never released. This, along with internal conflicts, led to the group disbanding later that year.<br /><br />Artist: Beach Boys<br />Title: I Just Wasn't Made For These Times<br />Source: CD: Pet Sounds<br />Writer(s): Wilson/Asher<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1966<br /> Early on Brian Wilson recognized that his greatest strength was in writing music, as opposed to performing or even writing lyrics. Being the leader and producer of the most successful recording artists in southern California, Wilson was able to take his pick of the best lyricists available, including Mike Love, Van Dyke Parks, and, on the Pet Sounds album, Tony Asher, whose introspective lyrics complemented Wilson's maturing musical themes perfectly. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times is an excellent example of how well the two worked together to capture a specific mood and theme. <br /><br />Artist: Left Banke<br />Title: Pretty Ballerina<br />Source: Stereo 45 RPM single (reissue)<br />Writer: Michael Brown<br />Label: Smash<br />Year: 1967<br /> The Left Banke, taking advantage of bandleader Michael Brown's industry connections (his father ran a New York recording studio), ushered in what was considered to be the "next big thing" in popular music in early 1967: Baroque Pop. After their debut single, Walk Away Renee, became a huge bestseller, the band followed it up with Pretty Ballerina, which easily made the top 20 as well. Subsequent releases were sabotaged by a series of bad decisions by Brown and the other band members that left radio stations leery of playing any record with the words "Left Banke" on the label.<br /><br />Artist: Primitives<br />Title: The Ostrich<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Reed/Sims/Vance/Phillips<br />Label: Pickwick City<br />Year: 1964<br /> When it comes to low budget record companies, one of the first names that comes to mind is Pickwick Records, a label that specialized in soundalike recordings of popular songs. In late 1964 they decided to launch a new label, Pickwick City, that would feature original material written by their own staff members. The first single issued on Pickwick City was The Ostrich, by the Primitives. The band was in reality a studio group led by staff songwriter and session musician Lou Reed, who along with fellow session player John Cale, left Pickwick to form the Velvet Underground in 1965. Pickwick City, meanwhile, would fold after releasing only four singles.<br /><br />Artist: Gods<br />Title: Genesis-side one: Towards The Skies/Candles Getting Shorter/You're My Life/Looking Glass/Misleading Colours<br />Source: Mono British import LP: Genesis<br />Writer(s): Konas/Hensley/Kerslake<br />Label: Parlophone (original UK label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1968<br /> The Juniors were a British pop band formed in 1962 made up entirely of adolescent boys who played their own instruments. The membership included 13-year-old rhythm guitarist Mick Taylor, 14-year old Brian Glascock on drums and his brother, 11-year-old John Glascock on bass. in 1965, the band underwent some changes, adding keyboardist Ken Hensley and lead vocalist/guitarist Lee Konas and changing their name to The Gods. They became part of the British blues scene, opening for Cream in 1966. The following year Taylor, who by this time had developed into a quality lead guitarist, accepted an offer to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers as Peter Green's replacement, and they were forced to regroup, replacing the remaining two former Juniors with drummer Lee Kerslake and bassist Paul Newton, who in turn was replaced by bassist Greg Lake. In 1968 Lake was invited to join Robert Fripp's new group, King Crimson, and John Glascock returned to the band. It was this lineup (Konas/Hensley/Glascock/Kerslake) that recorded the 1968 album Genesis. As was becoming more common that year, all the songs on each side of Genesis ran together as a single track, with various electronic effects being used to bridge the individual songs. After releasing a second album, the band officially disbanded, with a group called Toe Fat, featuring several of the same members, replacing it. The four ex-Gods who recorded Genesis reunited once more under the name Head Machine for an album called Orgasm in 1970 before moving on to other projects, including Uriah Heep (Hensley and Kerslake) and, eventually, Jethro Tull (John Glascock).<br /><br />Artist: First Crew To The Moon<br />Title: The Sun Lights Up The Shadows Of Your Mind<br />Source: Mono British import CD: Ah Feel Like Ahcid (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Jerry Milstein<br />Label: Zonophone (original label: Roulette)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Originally known as the Back Door Men, and later the Bootleggers, Brooklyn, NY's First Crew To The Moon signed with the Roulette label on the recommendation of legendary songwriter Doc Pomus. Unfortunately for the band, their only record for Roulette, a song called Spend Your Life With Me, was released just as the label's entire promotional budget was being spent on the latest single by labelmates Tommy James And The Shondells, a tune called I think We're Alone Now. To add insult to injury, Roulette misspelled the band's name on both sides of the record, inadvertently rechristening them First Crow To The Moon, a name that actually fits the record's B side, a psychedelic masterpiece called The Sun Lights Up The Shadows Of Your Mind, quite well. As it turned out, none of this really mattered, as the band soon disbanded following the death of lead guitarist Alan Avick of leukemia. Perhaps the group's greatest legacy, however, was to serve as inspiration to their friend Chris Stein, who several years later would team up with Deborah Harry to form a group called Blondie.<br /><br />Artist: Rising Sons<br />Title: Walkin' Down The Line<br />Source: CD: Rising Sons featuring Raj Mahal and Ry Cooder<br />Writer(s): Bob Dylan<br />Label: Columbia/Legacy<br />Year: Recorded 1965, released 1993<br /> The Rising Sons had their roots in both the East and West Coast underground music scenes. The genesis of the band can be traced to a 1964 hootenanny in Cambridge, Mass.organized by a young bluesman named Taj Mahal. One of the performers was a 12-string guitarist named Jesse Lee Kincaid, who had learned his technique from his uncle Fred Gerlach, a West Coast based recording artist for Folkways Records. Kincaid persuaded Mahal to relocate to Los Angeles, where they hooked up with another Gerlach student, Ryland Cooder to form the Rising Sons. With the addition of bassist Jeff Marker and drummer Ed Cassidy the group began to hit the local club scene, making enough of a name for themselves to get signed to Columbia Records in 1965. Before they can actually get into the studio, however, Cassidy hurt his wrist, forcing the band to find another drummer, Kevin Kelley (Cassidy, by the way, would go on to become a founding member of Spirit with his stepson Randy California). Although the Rising Sons did write some of their own songs, much of what they recorded was their own arrangements of blues classics, and even a Bob Dylan tune, Walkin' Down The Line. Columbia never really had a handle on how to market an inter-racial underground folk-rock-blues band like the Rising Sons, and, with the exception of one single, the band's recordings ended up on the shelf until 1993. <br /><br />Artist: Donovan<br />Title: Universal Soldier<br />Source: CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released in UK as 45 RPM EP and in US as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Buffy Sainte-Marie<br />Label: Rhino (original labels: UK: Pye, US: Hickory)<br />Year: 1965<br /> Before Sunshine Superman became a huge hit in the US, Scottish folk singer Donovan Leitch was making a name for himself in the UK as the "British Dylan." One of his most popular early tunes was Universal Soldier, an antiwar piece that was originally released in the UK on a four-song EP. The EP charted well, but Hickory Records, which had the US rights to Donovan's records, was reluctant to release the song in a format (EP) that had long since run its course in the US and was, by 1965, only used by off-brand labels to crank out soundalike hits performed by anonymous studio musicians. Eventually Hickory decided to release Universal Soldier as a single, but the record failed to make the US charts.<br /><br />Artist: Factory (UK band)<br />Title: Path Through The Forest<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Clifford T Ward<br />Label: Rhino (original label: MGM)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Originally known as the Souvenier Badge Factory, the Factory was a British power trio who released their first of two singles, Path Through The Forest, while the band members (Jack Brand, Ian Oates and Bill MacLeod) were still in their teens. When a second single failed to chart the following year the group faded off into obscurity. Although originally credited to "Rollings", Path Through The Forest is now known to have been written by English singer-songwriter Clifford T Ward, who published the song under his wife's maiden name because of royalty issues.<br /><br />Artist: Moby Grape <br />Title: Hey Grandma<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Miller/Stevenson<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1967<br /> One of the most talked-about albums to come from the San Francisco music scene in 1967 was Moby Grape's debut album. Unfortunately a lot of that talk was from Columbia Records itself, which resulted in the band getting a reputation for being overly hyped, much to the detriment of the band's future efforts. Still, that first album did have some outstanding tracks, including Hey Grandma, which was one of five singles released simultaneously by Columbia as part of their over-hyping of the band. <br /><br />Artist: Daily Flash<br />Title: Jack Of Diamonds<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Lalor/MacAllistor/Kelihor/Hastings<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Parrot)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The practice of writing new lyrics to an old tune got turned around for the Seattle-based Daily Flash's feedback-drenched recording of Jack Of Diamonds, which pretty much preserves the lyrics to the old folk song, but is musically pure garage-rock, which is itself an anamoly, since the Daily Flash is generally known for NOT being a garage-rock band. Instead they are considered a forerunner of such San Francisco bands as Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service.<br /><br />Artist: Velvet Underground<br />Title: Femme Fatale<br />Source: CD: The Velvet Underground And Nico<br />Writer: Lou Reed<br />Label: Polydor (original label: Verve)<br />Year: 1967<br /> The debut Velvet Underground LP, released in 1967, was not a huge commercial success, despite the striking album cover designed by Andy Warhol, who also produced the album. In the years since it has come to be regarded as a true classic of both the psychedelic and punk genres. Despite all that the album has some serious flaws, not the least of which is the relative lack of talent of Nico, who sings lead on Lou Reed's Femme Fatale. <br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: Castles Made Of Sand<br />Source: LP: Axis: Bold As Love<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: MCA/Experience Hendrix<br />Year: 1967<br /> When I was a junior in high school I used to fall asleep on the living room couch with the headphones on, usually listening to pre-recorded tapes of either the Beatles' Revolver album or one of the first two albums by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. One song in particular from the second Hendrix album, Axis: Bold As Love, always gave me a chill when I heard it: Castles Made Of Sand. The song serves as a warning not to invest too much of yourself in your dreams, and stands in direct contrast to the usual goal-oriented American attitude.<br /><br />Artist: Chambers Brothers<br />Title: Time Has Come Today<br />Source: CD: The Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: The Time Has Come)<br />Writer(s): Joe and Willie Chambers<br />Label: Priority (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: LP released 1967, single edit released 1968<br /> Time Has Come Today has one of the most convoluted histories of any song of the psychedelic era. First recorded in 1966 and released as a two-and-a-half minute single the song flopped. The following year an entirely new eleven minute version of the song was recorded for the album The Time Has Come, featuring an extended pyschedelic section filled with various studio effects. In late 1967 a three minute edited version of the song was released that left out virtually the entire psychedelic section of the recording. Soon after that, the single was pulled from the shelf and replaced by a longer edited version that included part of the psychedelic section. That version became a hit record in 1968, peaking just outside the top 10. This is actually a stereo recreation of that mono second edited version.<br /><br />Artist: Grateful Dead<br />Title: Uncle John's Band<br />Source: LP: Workingman's Dead<br />Writer(s): Hunter/Garcia<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1970<br /> For many people who only got their music from commercial radio, Uncle John's Band was the first Grateful Dead song they ever heard. The tune, from the 1970 LP Workingman's Dead, was the first Dead song to crack the top 100, peaking at #69, and got significant airplay on FM rock radio stations as well. The close harmonies on the track were reportedly inspired by Crosby, Stills and Nash, whose debut album had come out the previous year. <br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-16452269490715903622024-02-17T22:03:00.000-08:002024-02-17T22:03:18.131-08:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2408 (starts 2/19/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/517531</p><p><br /> This week, Rockin' in the Days of Confusion presents, in its entirety, the 45 minute long Mountain Jam performed by the Allman Brothers Band at Cincinnatti's Ludlow Garage on April 11, 1970. That doesn't leave room for a whole lot of other tracks, but we do manage to fit in tunes from Badfinger, Ten Years After and The Beatles, along with a short Firesign Theatre excerpt from their very first album before getting into the main event.<br /><br />Artist: Badfinger<br />Title: No Matter What<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Pete Ham<br />Label: Apple<br />Year: 1970<br /> Aside from the Beatles, the band most closely associated with Apple Records was Badfinger. Originally known as the Iveys, Badfinger was the first band signed to Apple and remained with the label throughout its existence. Led by Pete Ham, Badfinger had a string of successful singles for the label, including No Matter What, a Ham composition from the band's second LP, No Dice. The song, released in 1970, is considered by many to be the earliest example of what would come to be known as power pop later in the decade.<br /> <br />Artist: Ten Years After<br />Title: Me And My Baby<br />Source: CD: Cricklewood Green<br />Writer(s): Alvin Lee<br />Label: Chrysalis (original label: Deram)<br />Year: 1970<br /> Cricklewood Green, the fourth studio LP from Ten Years After, is generally considered to be the British blues rockers' best. All the tracks were written by guitarist/vocalist Alvin Lee, including Me And My Baby, which showcases the band's ability to emulate a Wes Montgomery-like 1950s jazz style. The track opens side two of the original LP.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: I've Got A Feeling<br />Source: LP: Let It Be<br />Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Apple<br />Year: 1970<br /> One of the three songs on the Let It Be album recorded live from the band's famous "rooftop performance" on January 30, 1970, I've Got A Feeling is actually a combination of two unfinished tunes, one written by Paul McCartney and one by John Lennon (it's pretty easy to figure out which parts were written by which band member). The four Beatles were joined by Billy Preston for the performance, playing Fender Rhodes piano.<br /><br />Artist: Firesign Theatre<br />Title: Learning Turkish<br />Source: LP: Waiting For The Electrician or Someone Like Him<br />Writer(s): Proctor/Bergman/Austin/Ossman<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1968<br /> The Firesign Theatre was formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by late-night radio talk show host Peter Bergman, along with his producers, Phil Austin and David Ossman, and his old college friend Philip Proctor. Bergman was the host of a show called Radio Free Oz on KPFK FM that, according to Austin, "featured everybody who was anybody in the artistic world who passed through LA." Bergman's show guests included such luminaries as Andy Warhol and the members of Buffalo Springfield, among others. On slow nights, Bergman and his cohorts, whom he christened the Oz Firesign Theatre (soon dropping the "Oz" after Disney and M-G-M threatened lawsuits), would pretend to be various characters without letting the audience know it was all a put-on. The members would create their characters individually without clueing in the other members, creating an atmosphere of improvisation as they played those characters off each other. By 1967 the Firesign Theatre was a regular feature on Radio Free Oz, performing half-hour skits that they had written themselves. The shows included weekly live appearances at a club called the Magic Mushroom on Sunday nights, as well as an appearance at L.A.'s first love-in at Elysian Park, that was broadcast on Bergman's show. This led to Radio Free Oz moving from KPFK to AM powerhouse KRLA, one of the city's most popular stations, which in turn led to their discovery by Gary Usher, who was a staff producer at Columbia Records. Usher signed the Firesign Theatre to a five-year contract with Columbia, and co-produced their first LP, Waiting For The Electrician or Someone Like Him. The short Learning Turkish, from that first LP, is typical of the Firesign brand of humor. The Firesign Theatre would go on to become one of the most popular acts in the history of comedy on vinyl, creating such memorable characters as noir detective Nick Danger and film star Porgy Tirebiter.<br /><br />Artist: Allman Brother Band<br />Title: Mountain Jam<br />Source: CD: Idlewild South (bonus track originally released on CD: Live At Ludlow Garage 1970)<br />Writer(s): Lietch/Allman/Allman/Betts/Oakley/Johanson/Trucks<br />Label: Mercury (original label: Polydor)<br />Year: Recorded 1970, released 1990<br /> The Allman Brothers band spent 1970 touring relentlessly, mainly in the southern US. One of their favorite places to play was Ludlow's Garage in Cincinnatti, Ohio. It was literally an old garage that for some reason had a downward sloping floor, giving audience members a good view of the band regardless of where they were sitting. On April 11, their performance was recorded directly to 2-track tape without any overdubs added, by Dan Britt and Rick Lemker. That performance, including a 45-minute long rendition of Mountain Jam, was released 20 years later on a two-CD set called Live At Ludlow Garage-1970. 25 years after that, the entire performace was included as bonus tracks on the 2015 remastered edition of the band's second album, Idlewild South. <br /><br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-11959382349067927732024-02-11T00:22:00.000-08:002024-02-11T00:22:50.554-08:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2407 (starts 2/12/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/516597 </p><p><br /> The emphasis is on the artists this week, with sets from The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Turtles. And to get things started, we have a battle of the bands between the Doors and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Plus, as always, lot of singles, B sides and album tracks from the original psychedelic era.<br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: Light My Fire<br />Source: CD: The Doors<br />Writer(s): The Doors<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1967<br /> Once in a while a song comes along that totally blows you away the very first time you hear it. The Doors' Light My Fire was one of those songs. I liked it so much that I immediately went out and bought the 45 RPM single. Not long after that I heard the full-length version of the song from the first Doors album and was blown away all over again. <br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: House Burning Down<br />Source: CD: Electric Ladyland<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: Legacy (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1968<br /> The third Jimi Hendrix Experience album, Electric Ladyland, was the first to be produced entirely by Hendrix himself, rather than with Chas Chandler (with more than a little help from engineer Eddie Kramer). It was also the first to use state-of-the-art eight-track recording technology (not to be confused with the later 8-track tape cartridge), as well as several new tech toys developed specifically for Hendrix to play with. The result was an album with production standards far beyond anything else being attempted at the time. One song that showcases Hendrix's prowess as a producer is House Burning Down. Using effects such as phasing, double-tracking and stereo panning, Hendrix manages to create music that sounds like it's actually swirling around the listener rather than coming from a specific location. It's also the only rock song I can think of that uses a genuine tango beat (in the verses).<br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: Horse Latitudes/Moonlight Drive<br />Source: LP: Strange Days<br />Writer(s): The Doors<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1967<br /> Much of the second Doors album consisted of songs that were already in the band's repertoire when they signed with Elektra Records but for various reasons did not record for their debut LP. One of the earliest was Jim Morrison's Moonlight Ride, which he wrote even before the band was formed. As was the case with all the Doors songs on their first three albums, the tune was credited to the entire band. Horse Latitudes, which leads into Moonlight Ride, was also an obvious Morrison composition, as it is essentially a piece of Morrison poetry with a musique concrete soundtrack provided by the rest of the band.<br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: If 6 Was 9<br />Source: CD: Axis: Bold As Love<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: Experience Hendrix/Legacy (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Before 1967 stereo was little more than an excuse to charge a dollar more for an LP. That all changed in a hurry, as artists such as Jimi Hendrix began to explore the possibilities of the technology, in essence treating stereophonic sound as a multi-dimensional sonic palette. The result can be heard on songs such as If 6 Were 9 from the Axis: Bold As Love album, which is best listened to at high volume, preferably with headphones on. <br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: I Can't See Your Face In My Mind<br />Source: CD: Strange Days<br />Writer(s): The Doors<br />Label: Elektra/Rhino<br />Year: 1967<br /> One of the most haunting Doors ever recorded is I Can't See Your Face In My Mind, from their second 1967 LP, Strange Days. It also ranks among the most sadness-evoking song titles I've ever run across. Such is the power of poetry, I guess. Frankly I'm surprised that the Alzheimer's Association hasn't purchased the rights to the song to use on one of their TV fundraising spots. <br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: Bold As Love<br />Source: CD: Axis: Bold As Love<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: Experience Hendrix/Legacy (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1967<br /> When working on the song Bold As Love for the second Jimi Hendrix Experience album in 1967, Jimi reportedly asked engineer Eddie Kramer if he could make a guitar sound like it was under water. Kramer's answer was to use a techique called phasing, which is what happens when two identical sound sources are played simultaneously, but slightly (as in microseconds) out of synch with each other. The technique, first used in 1958 but seldom tried in stereo, somewhat resembles the sound of a jet plane flying by. This is not to be confused with chorusing (sometimes called reverse phasing), a technique used often by the Beatles which electronically splits a single signal into two identical signals then delays one to create the illusion of being separate tracks. <br /><br />Artist: Turtles<br />Title: Happy Together<br />Source: French import CD: Happy Together (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Bonner/Gordon<br />Label: Magic (original US label: White Whale)<br />Year: 1967<br /> The Turtles got off to a strong start with their cover of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe, which hit the top 20 in 1965. By early 1967, however, the band had fallen on hard times and was looking for a way to return to the charts. They found that way with Happy Together, a song written by Gary Bonner and Mark Gordon, both members of an east coast band called the Magicians. Happy Together was the Turtles' first international hit, going all the way to the top of the charts in several countries and becoming one of the most recognizable songs in popular music history. <br /> <br />Artist: Turtles<br />Title: The Story Of Rock And Roll<br />Source: CD: The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Harry Nilsson<br />Label: Manifesto (original label: White Whale)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Harry Nilsson was still an up and coming, but not yet arrived, young singer/songwriter when he penned The Story Of Rock And Roll. The Turtles, always in a struggle with their record label, White Whale, over whether to record their own material or rely on professional songwriters, were the first to record the tune, releasing it as a single in 1968. Although it was not a major hit, the song did set the stage for Nilsson's later successes.<br /><br />Artist: Turtles<br />Title: Person Without A Care<br />Source: French import CD: Happy Together<br />Writer(s): Al Nichol<br />Label: Magic (original US label: White Whale)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Al Nichol never seems to get the credit he deserves. Along with Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, he was the only original member of the Turtles to remain with the group for its entire existence; in fact, he was the lead guitarist for the Nightriders, the instrumental surf group led by Kaylan that eventually became the Turtles. Starting with their second LP, You Baby, Nichol wrote or co-wrote at least one song on each of the band's albums, and those songs were usually among the most original-sounding tracks on the album. A perfect example of this is Person Without A Care. While not particularly commercial, the song has a catchy hook and, for 1967, an innovative chord structure. Not much is known of Nichol's post-Turtles adventures, other than a short note on the Turtles' web site saying that he "lives in Nevada". <br /><br />Artist: Syndicate Of Sound<br />Title: Little Girl<br />Source: CD: Battle Of The Bands, Vol. Two (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Baskin/Gonzalez<br />Label: Era (original labels: Hush & Bell)<br />Year: 1966<br /> San Jose California, despite being a relatively small city in the pre-silicon valley days, was home to a thriving music scene in the mid 60s that produced more than its share of hit records from 1966-68. One of the earliest and biggest of these hits was the Syndicate Of Sound's Little Girl, which has come to be recognized as one of the top garage-rock songs of all time. It's also one of the few original garage-rock hits recorded and mixed in true stereo. Little Girl was originally released regionally in mid 1966 on the Hush label, and reissued nationally by Bell Records a couple months later. <br /><br />Artist: Love<br />Title: The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This<br />Source: CD: Forever Changes<br />Writer(s): Arthur Lee<br />Label: Elektra/Rhino<br />Year: 1967<br /> There is avant garde and there is avant garde. Whereas most of the groups that have the label applied to them (Velvet Underground, United States of America, Fifty Foot Hose) sometimes were about as pleasant to listen to a nails on a blackboard, Love's Arthur Lee took an entirely different approach. Even though tracks like The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This (from the album Forever Changes) are full of time, key and phrasing surprises throughout, he manages to make it all sound pretty on perhaps his most avant garde recording ever.<br /><br />Artist: Sweetwater<br />Title: My Crystal Spider<br />Source: LP: Sweetwater<br />Writer(s): Fred Herrera<br />Label: Reprise<br />Year: 1968<br /> Trivia question: who was the first band to perform at Woodstock? Most people would reply that Richie Havens was the first to take the stage, but Havens was essentially a solo acoustic act (with acoustic accompaniment) rather than an actual band. The reason Havens got to be the opening act was that the scheduled band was stuck in traffic and eventually had to be flown in by helicopter. That band was Sweetwater, who ended up being the first electric group to hit the stage at Woodstock. Based in Los Angeles, Sweetwater was made up of veterans of the L.A. coffee house scene, including Nansi Nevins on lead vocals, Fred Herrera on bass guitar and backing vocals, August Burns on cello, Elpidio Cobian on congas and other percussion, Alan Malarowitz on drums, Albert Moore on flute and backing vocals, R.G. Carlyle on acoustic guitar, bongos and backing vocals, and Alex Del Zoppo on keyboards and backing vocals. The group was not afraid to experiment either, as can be heard on My Crystal Spider, a tune that was also released as a B side.<br /><br />Artist: Buckinghams<br />Title: Foreign Policy<br />Source: LP: The Buckinghams' Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Time And Charges)<br />Writer(s): James William Guercio<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1967<br /> The name James William Guercio is not as well-known as Peter Cetera or David Clayton-Thomas, yet if it weren't for Guercio, neither of the other two would have had the careers that made them famous in the first place. For that matter, if not for Guercio's intervention, the Buckinghams, who had a #1 hit in early 1967 with the song Kind Of A Drag, would have quickly faded off into obscurity as a one-hit wonder band. Born in Chicago in 1945, Guercio moved out to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, becoming a session musician and songwriter, and was even briefly a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention. In late 1966, after returning to his native Chicago he was introduced to the members of the Buckinghams, and soon became their producer, releasing the album Time And Charges on the Columbia label in 1967. The album included two top 10 singles, as well as more experimental tracks such as the politically-oriented Foreign Policy, which Guercio wrote for the band. The following year Guercio was approached by an old college friend, Walter Parazaider, who invited him to come hear his new band, the Big Thing. Guercio became that band's manager and producer, convincing them to move to Los Angeles and change their name to the Chicago Transit Authority, which later was shortened to Chicago. During sessions for the first Chicago album, Guercio was asked by the people at Columbia to produce the second Blood, Sweat & Tears album, featuring that band's new vocalist, David Clayton-Thomas. Although the album was a huge success, Guercio stayed with Chicago, producing a total of 11 albums and 17 top 25 singles over the next few years, making a star of vocalist/bassist Peter Cetera in the process. Since parting company with Chicago in 1978, Guercio has been involved in various enterprises, including founding a popular recording studio in Colorado that burned down in 1985 called the Caribou Ranch, and for a while was owner of the Country Music Television cable network.<br /><br />Artist: Yardbirds<br />Title: Shapes Of Things<br />Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)<br />Writer: Samwell-Smith/Relf/McCarty<br />Label: Epic<br />Year: 1966<br /> The earliest Yardbirds singles were either covers of blues classics or new tunes written by outside songwriters such as Graham Gouldman. The first hit song for the group that was actually composed by band members was Shapes Of Things, which made the top 5 in the UK and the top 10 stateside. The song was officially credited to vocalist Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty and bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, who later said that Jeff Beck deserved a songwriting credit as well for his distinctive lead guitar solo that was a major factor in the record's success.<br /><br />Artist: Tomorrow<br />Title: Real Life Permanent Dream<br />Source: British import CD: Insane Times (originally released on LP: tomorrow)<br />Writer(s): Keith Hopkins<br />Label: Zonophone (original label: Parlophone)<br />Year: 1968<br /> One of the most prominent bands to emerge from London's psychedelic underground, Tomorrow never quite achieved the success it deserved, despite having several opportunities to show their stuff. Evolving out of the British soul cover band The In Crowd, Tomorrow was the band originally slated to appear in the film Blow Up, and even recorded the movie's theme song before having to bow out of the project (the Yardbirds appeared instead). They did get a decent amount of airplay for their 1967 single My White Bicycle, enabling them to record an entire album for Parlophone in 1968. Real Life Permanent Dream is a track from that album that showcases the talents of guitarist Steve Howe, who would go on to become a genuine rock star when he became a member of Yes in the early 1970s. <br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Not Guilty<br />Source: CD: Anthology 3<br />Writer(s): George Harrison<br />Label: Capitol/Apple<br />Year: Recorded 1968, released 1996<br /> One of the most legendary unreleased Beatles recordings, Not Guilty was written by George Harrison after returning from the band members' spiritual retreat in Rishikesh, India, where they studied Transcendental Meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The song addresses his growing dissatisfaction with his role in the band, while defending himself against accusations that he led the group "astray on the road to Mandalay". The recording process was a difficult one, taking over 100 takes to get right, and even then Harrison was unsatisfied with the final recording, which may explain why the song, originally slated for inclusion on the White Album, remained unreleased for nearly 30 years.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: If I Needed Someone<br />Source: LP: Yesterday...And Today<br />Writer(s): George Harrison<br />Label: Capitol/EMI<br />Year: 1965 (US 1966)<br /> Generally considered to be George Harrison's best song up to that point, If I Needed Someone is the earliest song to be included on the former Beatle's own Greatest Hits album. The song was covered by the Hollies, whose single version was actually released in the UK before Rubber Soul came out, leading some to believe that the Beatles were covering the Hollies. In the US the song was held back for release the following June on the Yesterday...And Today album, an LP that only appeared in North America.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Across The Universe (take two)<br />Source: CD: Anthology 2<br />Writer: Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Capitol/Apple<br />Year: Recorded 1968, released 1996<br /> John Lennon, in a 1970 interview, said that Across The Universe had "one of the best lyrics I've written. In fact, it could be the best". Unfortunately, despite several attempts by the Beatles at recording the tune, Lennon always felt that the song was never done properly. The first two takes of Across The Universe were recorded on Feb 2, 1968, with four more attempts made on the following day. The second take, featuring Lennon on acoustic guitar, George Harrison on Tambura and Ringo Starr on percussion, was considered the best of these, and a sitar intro by George Harrison, as well as a lead vocal track from Lennon were added to the recording before it was shelved in favor of a new take made on February 8th. Take two, sometimes referred to as the "psychedelic" version, was finally released in 1996 on the Anthology 2 CD. Personally, I like it better than any of the previously released versions, despite Lennon's odd tendency to take a breath in the middle of a line throughout the song. <br /><br />Artist: Blues Magoos<br />Title: Love Seems Doomed<br />Source: CD: Kaleidoscopic Compendium (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)<br />Writer(s): Gilbert/Scala/Esposito<br />Label: Mercury<br />Year: 1966<br /> Unlike most of the tracks on the Blues Magoos' 1966 Debut LP, Psychedelic Lollipop, Love Seems Doomed is a slow, moody piece with a message. Along with the Paul Revere and the Raiders hit Kicks from earlier that year, Love Seems Doomed is one of the first songs by a rock band to carry a decidedly anti-drug message. While Kicks warned of the addictive qualities of drugs (particularly the need for larger doses of a drug to achieve the same effect over time), Love Seems Doomed focused more on how addiction affects the user's relationships, particularly those of a romantic nature. Love Seems Doomed is also a more subtle song than Kicks (which tends to hit the listener over the head with its message). <br /><br />Artist: Left Banke<br />Title: Pretty Ballerina<br />Source: Stereo 45 RPM single (reissue)<br />Writer: Michael Brown<br />Label: Smash<br />Year: 1967<br /> The Left Banke, taking advantage of bandleader Michael Brown's industry connections (his father ran a New York recording studio), ushered in what was considered to be the "next big thing" in popular music in early 1967: Baroque Pop. After their debut single, Walk Away Renee, became a huge bestseller, the band followed it up with Pretty Ballerina, which easily made the top 20 as well. Subsequent releases were sabotaged by a series of bad decisions by Brown and the other band members that left radio stations leery of playing any record with the words "Left Banke" on the label.<br /><br />Artist: Jefferson Airplane<br />Title: Let's Get Together<br />Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off<br />Writer(s): Chet Powers (aka Dino Valenti)<br />Label: RCA Victor<br />Year: 1966<br /> Although Dino Valenti recorded a demo version of his song Let's Get Together in 1964, it wasn't until two years later that the song made its first appearance on vinyl as a track on Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. The Airplane version of the song is unique in that the lead vocals alternate between Paul Kantner, Signe Anderson and Marty Balin, with each one taking a verse and all of them singing on the chorus.<br /><br />Artist: Spencer Davis Group<br />Title: Gimme Some Lovin'<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Winwood/Winwood/Davis<br />Label: United Artists<br />Year: 1966<br /> By mid-1966 the Spencer Davis Group had already racked up an impressive number of British hit singles, but had yet to crack the US top 40. This changed when the band released Gimme Some Lovin', an original composition that had taken the band about an hour to develop in the studio. The single, released on Oct 28, went to the #2 spot on the British charts. Although producer Jimmy Miller knew he had a hit on his hands, he decided to do a complete remix of the song, including a brand new lead vocal track, added backup vocals and percussion and plenty of reverb, for the song's US release. His strategy was successful; Gimme Some Lovin', released in December of 1966, hit the US charts in early 1967, eventually reaching the #7 spot. The US remix has since become the standard version of the song, and has appeared on countless compilations over the years.<br /><br />Artist: Cyrkle<br />Title: Cry<br />Source: Mono LP: Red Rubber Ball<br />Writer(s): Danneman/Dawes<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1966<br /> The Cyrkle is best known as a light-pop band, as evidenced by their two biggest hits, Red Rubber Ball and Turn Down Day. The band did have its edgier side, however, as can be heard on Cry, an album track from their 1966 debut LP. Despite the group's obvious talent and brand name manager (Brian Epstein) the Cyrkle suffered diminishing returns with each record they released, and in 1968 decided to call it quits. <br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: London<br />Year: 1966<br /> By mid-1966 there was a population explosion of teenage rock bands popping up in garages and basements all across the US, the majority of which were doing their best to emulate the grungy sound of their heroes, the Rolling Stones. The Stones themselves responded by ramping up the grunge factor to a previously unheard of degree with their last single of the year, Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? It was the most feedback-laden record ever to make the top 40 at that point in time, and it inspired America's garage bands to buy even more powerful amps and crank up the volume (driving their parents to drink in the process). <br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: High And Dry<br />Source: CD: Aftermath<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: Abkco (original label: London)<br />Year: 1966<br /> High And Dry, from the Rolling Stones' 1966 LP Aftermath, is an early attempt at the sort of twisted country that would reach its peak with the Let It Bleed album in the early 70s. <br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Who's Driving Your Plane<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: London<br />Year: 1966<br /> By 1966 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were writing everything the Rolling Stones recorded. As their songwriting skills became more sophisticated the band began to lose touch with its R&B roots. To counteract this, Jagger and Richards would occasionally come up with tunes like Who's Driving Your Plane, a bluesy number that nonetheless is consistent with the band's cultivated image as the bad boys of rock. The song appeared as the B side (mistitled on the label as Who's Driving My Plane) of Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow.<br /> <br />Artist: Buffalo Springfield<br />Title: For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)<br />Source: LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Stephen Stills<br />Label: Cotillion (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1967<br /> By mid-1966 Hollywood's Sunset Strip was being taken over every night by local teenagers, with several underage clubs featuring live music being a major attraction. Many of the businesses in the area, citing traffic problems and rampant drug and alcohol abuse, began to put pressure on city officials to do something about the situation. The city responded by passing new loitering ordinances and imposing a 10PM curfew on the Strip. They also began putting pressure on the clubs, including condemning the popular Pandora's Box for demolition. On November 12, 1966 fliers appeared on the streets inviting people to a demonstration that evening to protest the closing of the club. The demostration continued over a period of days, exascerbated by the city's decision to revoke the permits of a dozen other clubs on the Strip, forcing them to bar anyone under the age of 21 from entering. Stephen Stills, a member of Buffalo Springfield, one of the many bands appearing regularly in these clubs, wrote a new song in response to the situation, and the band quickly booked studio time, recording the still-unnamed track on December 5th. The band had recently released their debut LP, but sales of the album were lackluster due to the lack of a hit single. Stills reportedly presented the new recording to label head Ahmet Ertegun with the words "I have this song here, for what it's worth, if you want it." Ertegun, sensing that he had a hit on his hands, got the song rush-released two days before Christmas, 1966, using For What It's Worth as the official song title, but sub-titling it Stop, Hey What's That Sound on the label as well. As predicted, For What It's Worth was an instant hit in the L.A. market, and soon went national, where it was taken by most record buyers to be about the general sense of unrest being felt across the nation over issues like racial equality and the Vietnam War (and oddly enough, by some people as being about the Kent State massacre, even though that happened nearly three years after the song was released). As the single moved up the charts, eventually peaking at #7, Atco recalled the Buffalo Springfield LP, reissuing it with a modified song selection that included For What It's Worth as the album's openng track. Needless to say, album sales picked up after that. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever even seen a copy of the Buffalo Springfield album without For What It's Worth on it, although I'm sure some of those early pressings must still exist.<br /><br />Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals<br />Title: Good Times <br />Source: CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: Winds Of Change)<br />Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins<br />Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)<br />Year: 1967<br /> By the end of the original Animals' run they were having greater chart success with their singles in the US than in their native UK. That trend continued with the formation of the "new" Animals in 1967 and their first single, When I Was Young. Shortly after the first LP by the band now known as Eric Burdon And The Animals came out, M-G-M decided to release the song San Franciscan Nights as a single to take advantage of the massive youth migration to the city that summer. Meanwhile the band's British label decided to instead issue Good Times (an autobiographical song which was released in the US as the B side to San Franciscan Nights) as a single, and the band ended up with one of their biggest UK hits ever. Riding the wave of success of Good Times, San Franciscan Nights eventually did get released in the UK and was a hit there as well. <br /><br />Artist: Them<br />Title: The Moth<br />Source: LP: Time Out! Time In! For Them<br />Writer(s): Lane/Pulley<br />Label: Tower<br />Year: 1968<br /> After Van Morrison left Them to pursue a career as a solo artist, his old band decided to head back to Ireland and recruit Kenny McDowell for lead vocals. Them then moved out to California and hooked up with Tower Records, which was already getting known for signing garage bands such as the Standells and the Chocolate Watchband, as well as for issuing soundtrack albums for cheapie teen exploitation flicks such as Riot on Sunset Strip and Wild in the Streets. The 1968 LP Time Out! Time In! For Them was the second of two psychedelic albums the group cut for Tower before moving into harder rock and another label.<br /><br />Artist: It's A Beautiful Day<br />Title: White Bird<br />Source: CD: It's A Beautiful Day<br />Writer: David and Linda LaFlamme<br />Label: San Francisco Sound (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1968<br /> It's A Beautiful Day is a good illustration of how a band can be a part of a trend without intending to be or even realizing that they are. In their case, they were actually tied to two different trends. The first one was a positive thing: it was now possible for a band to be considered successful without a top 40 hit, as long as their album sales were healthy. The second trend was not such a good thing; as was true for way too many bands, It's A Beautiful Day was sorely mistreated by its own management, in this case one Matthew Katz. Katz already represented both Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape when he signed up It's A Beautiful Day in 1967. What the members of It's A Beautiful Day did not know at the time was that both of the aforementioned bands were trying to get out of their contracts with Katz. The first thing Katz did after signing It's A Beautiful Day was to ship the band off to Seattle to become house band at a club Katz owned called the San Francisco Sound. Unfortunately for the band, Seattle already had a sound of its own and attendance at their gigs was sparse. Feeling downtrodden and caged (and having no means of transportation to boot) classically-trained 5-string violinist and lead vocalist David LaFlamme and his keyboardist wife Linda LaFlamme translated those feelings into a song that is at once sad and beautiful: the classic White Bird. As an aside, Linda LaFlamme was not the female vocalist heard on White Bird. Credit for those goes to one Pattie Santos, the other female band member. To this day Katz owns the rights to It's A Beautiful Day's recordings, which have been reissued on CD on Katz's own San Francisco Sound label. <br /><br />Artist: Spirit<br />Title: Straight Arrow<br />Source: CD: Spirit<br />Writer(s): Jay Ferguson<br />Label: Ode/Epic/Legacy<br />Year: 1968<br /> Spirit was born when high school students and garage rockers Randy California, Jay Ferguson, Mark Andes and John Locke started jamming with California's stepfather, jazz drummer Ed Cassidy. The result was one of the earliest examples of jazz-rock, although the jazz element would be toned down for later albums. Unlike the later fusion bands, Spirit's early songs tended to be sectional, with a main section that was straight rock often leading into a more late bop styled instrumental section reminiscent of Wes Montgomery's recordings. Vocalist Jay Ferguson wrote most of the band's early material, such as Straight Arrow from their 1968 debut album.<br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-68820383662706621462024-02-11T00:01:00.000-08:002024-02-11T00:01:55.407-08:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2407 (starts 2/12/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/516595 </p><p><br /> This week's show starts with a 1972 set that turns into a 1973 set, followed by what starts as a journey through the years, only to deviate from the path before it gets very far. Such is the nature of free-form rock radio, which sometimes seems to have a mind of its own.<br /><br />Artist: Argent<br />Title: Hold Your Head Up<br />Source: European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: All Together Now)<br />Writer(s): Argent/White<br />Label: Sony Music (original US label: Epic)<br />Year: 1972<br /> Following the dissolution of the Zombies, keyboardist Rod Argent went about forming a new band called, appropriately enough, Argent. The new group had its greatest success in 1972 with the song Hold Your Head Up, which went to the #5 spot on the charts in both the US and UK. The song originally appeared on the album All Together Now, with a running time of over six minutes. The first single version of the tune ran less than three minutes, but was quickly replaced with a longer edit that made the song three minutes and fifteen seconds long. In the years since, the longer LP version has come to be the most familiar one to most radio listeners.<br /><br />Artist: Siegel-Schwall Band<br />Title: I Wanna Love Ya<br />Source: LP: Sleepy Hollow<br />Writer(s): Rollow Radford<br />Label: Wooden Nickel<br />Year: 1972<br /> Corky Siegel and Jim Schwall first met in 1964, when both were attending Roosevelt University in the Chicago area. Siegel, a saxophonist who would later switch to keyboards and harmonica, had an interest in the blues, while guitarist Schwall was more into country music. The two combined their interests, creating a sound that was as unique as it was purely American. As the house band at Pepper's Lounge on Chicago's south side, the Siegel-Schwall band often invited local blues artists to join them on stage, including some of the biggest stars in blues history. They soon signed to Vanguard Records, releasing their first album in 1966. In 1970, the band underwent a change in personnel, adding Rollo Radford on bass and Shelly Plotkin on drums. This version of the Siegel-Schwall Band would last until the group disbanded in 1974. In 1971 the band changed labels, signing with Chicago-based Wooden Nickel Records. Their second album for the label, Sleepy Hollow, was the first to include a song written by bassist Radford. In fact, I Wanna Love Ya was chosen to be the first track on the album itself. I'm not sure, but I believe Radford is the vocalist on the tune as well.<br /><br />Artist: Procol Harum<br />Title: Conquistador (live)<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Brooker/Reid<br />Label: A&M<br />Year: 1972<br /> Although Conquistador was originally recorded for the first Procol Harum album in 1967, it was the 1972 live version with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra that became one of the band's biggest hits, second only to A Whiter Shade Of Pale.<br /><br />Artist: Paul McCartney And Wings<br />Title: Jet<br />Source: Eupopean import LP: Band On The Run<br />Writer(s): Paul and Linda McCartney<br />Label: MPL<br />Year: 1973<br /> Jet was the first single from the 1973 Paul McCartney And Wings LP Band On The Run. The song, which reached the top 10 in several countries, including the US and Britain, was reportedly named after a black labrador puppy. Band On The Run ended up being McCartney's most successful album as a solo artist, both commercially and critically.<br /><br />Artist: Van Morrison<br />Title: Warm Love<br />Source: LP: Appetizers (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Hard Nose The Highway)<br />Writer(s): Van Morrison<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1973<br /> Warm Love was the first single from the album Hard Nose The Highway, and was actually released four months before the album itself. It soon became a concert favorite and remained in Morrison's repertoire throughout the 1970s.<br /><br />Artist: Jaime Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm (The Band) <br />Title: The Weight<br />Source: CD: 10 Great Songs (originally released on LP: Music From Big Pink)<br />Writer(s): Robbie Robertson<br />Label: Capitol/UMe<br />Year: 1968<br /> The group of Canadians who would come to be known as The Band spent ten years establishing themselves as one of rock's finest backup bands, first as the Hawks, backing up rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, and then as Bob Dylan's stage band for his 1965-1966 tours. They spent the next year in West Saugerties, New York, working on material that would eventually come to be known as the Basement Tapes. In 1968, they made their official debut as The Band on the album Music From Big Pink. The single from that album, The Weight, was issued under the individual band members' names. Although it was not a major chart hit, The Weight got a considerable amount of airplay on FM rock radio, especially in the early 1970s. <br /><br />Artist: McKendree Spring<br />Title: If The Sun Should Rise<br />Source: LP: McKendree Spring (promo copy)<br />Writer(s): McKendree Spring<br />Label: Decca<br />Year: 1969<br /> From Glens Falls, NY, McKendree Spring was one of the last folk-rock groups to begin their recording career, and (to my knowledge) the only one to use synthesizers. The band, consisting of Fran McKendree (vocals and guitar), Fred Holman (bass), Dr. Michael Dreyfuss (electric violin, viola, Moog, Arp), and Martin Slutsky (electric guitar) kept recording steadily through 1976, and reunited for an album of new material in 2007. If The Sun Should Rise is the final track on their somewhat rare first album (the only one to include original bassist Larry Tucker), released in 1969.<br /><br />Artist: Fleetwood Mac<br />Title: The Green Manolishi (With The Two Prong Crown)<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Peter Green<br />Label: Reprise<br />Year: 1970<br /> Peter Green's final recording with Fleetwood Mac was an LSD-inspired non-LP single called The Green Manolishi (With The Two Prong Crown). Released in 1970, it was the last single by Fleetwood Mac to make the UK top 10 until Tusk was released nearly 10 years later. According the Green, the song was written following a dream in which he was visited by a green dog that barked at him from the afterlife. "It scared me because I knew the dog had been dead a long time. It was a stray and I was looking after it. But I was dead and had to fight to get back into my body, which I eventually did. When I woke up, the room was really black and I found myself writing the song." Although it took an entire all-night session to get the sound Green wanted, he later called making the record one of his favorite times with the band.<br /><br />Artist: Mahogany Rush<br />Title: Magic Man<br />Source: LP: Maxoom<br />Writer(s): Frank Marino<br />Label: 20th Century<br />Year: 1972<br /> Canadian Frank Marino wrote, played guitar, sang lead vocals on and produced the first Mahogany Rush album, Maxoom...at age 17. The LP, released in 1972, was dedicated to the memory of Jimi Hendrix. Indeed, Marino's music in many ways represented possible directions that Hendrix himself may have taken had he lived past the age of 27. Magic Man is an example of one such direction.<br /><br />Artist: Led Zeppelin<br />Title: Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)<br />Source: CD: Led Zeppelin II<br />Writer: Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones<br />Label: Atlantic<br />Year: 1969<br /> For years album (now called classic) rock radio stations have been playing Led Zeppelin's Heartbreaker and letting the album play through to the next song, Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman). Back when Stuck in the Psychedelic Era was a local show being played live I occassionally made it a point to play Heartbreaker and follow it with something else entirely. These days I tend to waffle a bit on the whole thing; currently I'm in favor of just playing the two songs together as they appear on the album. Next time, who knows?<br /><br />Artist: Black Sabbath<br />Title: Hand Of Doom<br />Source: CD: Paranoid<br />Writer(s): Iommi/Osbourne/Butler/Ward<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1970<br /> Given the reputation and history of Black Sabbath, it may come as a surprise that Hand Of Doom, from the band's second LP, Paranoid, is actually an anti-drug song. It's also seven minutes of some of the heaviest rock recorded up to that point. <br /><br />Artist: Ten Years After<br />Title: Think About The Times<br />Source: CD: Watt<br />Writer(s): Alvin Lee<br />Label: Chrysalis (original label: Deram)<br />Year: 1970<br /> The first Ten Years After I ever bought was Stonedhenge, which I picked up because a) I liked the cover, and b) it was the featured album of the month at the BX at Ramstein Air Base, costing a buck and a half instead of the usual $2.50. Not long after that my dad got transferred back to the States, and I somehow missed the release of the next TYA album, Cricklewood Green. A friend of mine had a copy, though, that we spent a lot of time listening to, so when I saw the next TYA album, Watt, on the racks I immediately picked it up. I wore that copy out, and only later learned that the album had gotten mostly negative reviews from the rock press. I think that's when I started to suspect that most rock critics were self-righteous individuals with no talent of their own, because I thought Watt was a good album then and I still think it's a good album. Take a listen to Think About The Times and tell me I'm wrong.<br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-34850895251662354612024-02-04T05:53:00.000-08:002024-02-04T05:53:09.400-08:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2406 (starts 2/5/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/515582 </p><p><br /> It's a fairly typical edition of Stuck in the Psychedelic Era this week, with a set of Lovin' Spoonful tunes you never hear on "oldies" radio and a Santana artist's set alongside a sample of the results of the Beatles' very first trip to a recording studio in 1961.<br /><br />Artist: Music Machine<br />Title: Talk Talk<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Sean Bonniwell<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)<br />Year: 1966<br /> When it came time for Sean Bonniwell's band, the Music Machine, to go into the studio, the group decided to go for the best sound possible. This meant signing with tiny Original Sound Records, despite having offers from bigger labels, due to Original Sound having their own state-of-the-art eight-track studios. Unfortunately for the band, they soon discovered that having great equipment did not mean Original Sound made great decisions. One of the first, in fact, was to include a handful of cover songs on the Music Machine's first LP that were recorded for use on a local TV show. Bonniwell was livid when he found out, as he had envisioned an album made up entirely of his own compositions (although he reportedly did plan to use a slowed-down version of Hey Joe that he and Tim Rose had worked up together). From that point on it was only a matter of time until the Music Machine and Original Sound parted company, but not until after they scored a big national hit with Talk Talk in 1966.<br /><br />Artist: Byrds<br />Title: Eight Miles High<br />Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Fifth Dimension)<br />Writer(s): Clark/McGuinn/Crosby<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Gene Clark's final contribution to the Byrds was his collaboration with David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, Eight Miles High. Despite a newsletter from the influential Gavin Report advising stations not to play this "drug song", Eight Miles High managed to hit the top 20 in 1966. The band members themselves claimed that Eight Miles High was not a drug song at all, but was instead referring to the experience of travelling by air. In fact, it was Gene Clark's fear of flying, especially long intercontinental trips, that in part led to his leaving the Byrds.<br /><br />Artist: Stephen Stills and Richie Furay<br />Title: Sit Down I Think I Love You<br />Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68<br />Writer(s): Stephen Stills<br />Label: Rhino<br />Year: Recorded, 1966, released 2009<br /> Stephen Stills and Richie Furay were still in the process of forming their new band when they cut this demo of Sit Down I Think I Love You, a song that would appear later in the year on the first Buffalo Springfield album and be covered the following year by the San Francisco flower pop band the Mojo Men. This version is basically just the two of them sitting around in a friend's living room singing harmony with Stills on acoustic guitar.<br /><br />Artist: Electric Prunes<br />Title: Luvin'<br />Source: Mono CD: The Complete Reprise Singles (originally released as 45 RPM single B side and included on LP: I Had Too Much Too Dream (Last Night)) <br />Writer: Lowe/Tulin<br />Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Perhaps as a bit of overcompensation for his lack of control over the Grateful Dead, producer David Hassinger kept a tight rein on L.A.'s Electric Prunes, providing them with most of the material they recorded (from professional songwriters). A rare exception is Luvin', from the first Prunes LP, I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night). The song was originally released in November of 1966 as the B side of I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).<br /><br />Artist: Santana<br />Title: Mother's Daughter<br />Source: CD: Abraxas<br />Writer: Gregg Rolie<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1970<br /> Carlos Santana once said that his original lineup was the best of the many bands named Santana. With talented songwriters such as keyboardist Gregg Rolie in the band, it's hard to argue with that assessment. Rolie, of course, would go on to co-found Journey. <br /><br />Artist: Santana<br />Title: No One To Depend On<br />Source: Mexican import LP: Los Grandes Exitos De Santana (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Carabella/Escobida/Rolie<br />Label: CBS (US label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1971<br /> Santana's third LP (which like their debut LP was called simply Santana), was the last by the band's original lineup. Among the better-known tracks on the LP was No One To Depend On, featuring a guitar solo by teen phenom Neal Schon (who would go on to co-found Journey). On the album the song is cross-faded with the song preceding it. The only place the stereo version appears "in the clear" is on the band's greatest hits album, released in 1974.<br /><br />Artist: Santana<br />Title: Samba Pa Ti<br />Source: CD: Abraxas<br />Writer(s): Carlos Santana<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1970<br /> One of the most enduring tracks from Santana's second LP, Abraxas, Samba Pa Ti starts off as a slow instrumental, slowly picking up the pace and adding percussion to give it a decidedly latin flavor. As far as I know, Carlos Santana still includes Samba Pa Ti in his concert repertoire.<br /><br />Artist: Yardbirds<br />Title: The Train Kept A-Rollin'<br />Source: Simulated stereo LP: Great Hits (originally released on LP: Having A Rave-Up)<br />Writer(s): Bradshaw/Mann<br />Label: Epic<br />Year: 1965<br /> Originally recorded by Tiny Bradshaw in 1951, The Train Kept A-Rollin' was transformed from a relatively unremarkable jump blues tune into a rock classic when it was reworked by Jeff Beck and the Yardbirds in 1965. The song was chosen to be featured in the film Blowup the following year, but when the filmmakers ran into difficulties securing copyrights to the song Yardbirds vocalist Keith Relf came up with new lyrics and a new title, Stroll On. The entire band, including new member Jimmy Page, was given songwriting credit for the 1966 version of the song. <br /><br />Artist: Standells<br />Title: Dirty Water<br />Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Ed Cobb<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1965<br /> Dirty Water has long since been adopted by the city of Boston (and especially its sports teams), yet the band that originally recorded this Ed Cobb tune was purely an L.A. band, having started off playing cover tunes for frat parties in the early 60s. Drummer Dickie Dodd, who sings lead on Dirty Water, was a former Mouseketeer who had played on the surf-rock hit Mr. Moto as a member of the Bel-Airs.<br /><br />Artist: Other Side<br />Title: Streetcar<br />Source: Mono British import CD: With Love-A Pot Of Flowers (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer: Battey/Graham<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Brent)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Although not as popular as the Chocolate Watchband or Count Five, the Other Side had its share of fans in the San Jose, California area. Enough, in fact, to land a deal with Brent Records. Their single, Walking Down The Road, got some airplay on local radio stations, but it's the B side, Streetcar, that has stood the test of time to become recognized as a classic example of garage rock, heard here in its stereo version from the 1967 Mainstream album With Love-A Pot Of Flowers. <br /> <br />Artist: Who<br />Title: Doctor Doctor<br />Source: Mono Canadian import CD: Magic Bus-The Who On Tour (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): John Entwhistle<br />Label: MCA (original label: Decca)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Keeping an accurate chronology of recordings by the Who in their early years can be a bit difficult, mainly due to the difference in the ways songs were released in the US and the UK. Since the British policy was for songs released on 45 RPM vinyl not to be duplicated on LPs, several early Who songs were nearly impossible to find until being released on compilation albums several years after their original release. One such song is Doctor Doctor, a John Entwhistle tune released as the B side to their 1967 hit Pictures Of Lily. The single was released on both sides of the Atlantic, but only received airplay in the UK, where it made the top 10. In the US the record failed to chart and was out of print almost as soon as it was released. The song was included on the early 70s LP, Magic Bus-The Who On Tour. However, that album has never been issued in the US on CD (although it is available in Canada). Finally, in 1993, Doctor Doctor was included as a bonus track on the CD version of the Who's second album, A Quick One.<br /><br />Artist: Max Frost And The Troopers (aka the 13th Power)<br />Title: Captain Hassel<br />Source: European import CD: Shape Of Things To Come (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Beckner/Hector/Martin/McClain/Wibier<br />Label: Captain High (original US label: Sidewalk)<br />Year: 1967<br /> If anyone needed proof that the fictional band known as Max Frost And The Troopers was in reality the 13th Power, it is provided by Captain Hassel, which, along with I See A Change Is Gonna Come was released as the only 13th Power single on Mike Curb's Sidewalk label in 1967, a year before the film Wild In The Streets (featuring Max Frost And The Troopers) came out. Further proof is provided on the soundtrack album of the 1968 film, on which a reworked version of Captain Hassel retitled Free Lovin' is credited to the 13th Power. Later that same year, Tower Records released an entire LP credited to Max Frost And The Troopers that included a stereo mix of the original recording of Captain Hassel with its original title restored.<br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: Horse Latitudes/Moonlight Drive<br />Source: LP: Strange Days<br />Writer(s): The Doors<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1967<br /> Much of the second Doors album consisted of songs that were already in the band's repertoire when they signed with Elektra Records but for various reasons did not record for their debut LP. One of the earliest was Jim Morrison's Moonlight Ride, which he wrote even before the band was formed. As was the case with all the Doors songs on their first three albums, the tune was credited to the entire band. Horse Latitudes, which leads into Moonlight Ride, was also an obvious Morrison composition, as it is essentially a piece of Morrison poetry with a musique concrete soundtrack provided by the rest of the band.<br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: 3rd Stone From The Sun<br />Source: LP: Are You Experienced<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: Experience Hendrix/Legacy (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1967<br /> One of the great rock instrumentals, 3rd Stone From The Sun (from the Jimi Hendrix Experience album Are You Experienced) is one of the first tracks to use a recording technique known as backwards masking (where the tape is deliberately put on the machine backwards and new material is added to the reversed recording). In this particular case the masked material (Hendrix speaking) was added at a faster speed than the original recording, with a lot of reverb added, creating an almost otherworldly effect when played forward at normal speed. <br /><br />Artist: Procol Harum<br />Title: Lime Street Blues<br />Source: Mono British import CD: Procol Harum<br />Writer(s): Brooker/Reid<br />Label: Salvo/Fly (original label: Deram)<br />Year: 1967<br /> 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. <br /><br />Artist: Rutles<br />Title: Piggy In The Middle<br />Source: CD: The Rutles<br />Writer(s): Neil Innes<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)<br />Year: 1978<br /> In 1978, Eric Idle of Monty Python's Flying Circus produced a TV film called All You Need Is Cash, a documentary about the rise and fall of England's "prefab four" The Rutles. The clever Beatles parody featured music written by Neil Innes, sometimes called the "seventh Python" and the primary songwriter of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, who had performed Death Cab For Cutie in the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour telefilm eleven years earlier. Innes recruited two former Timebox members, Guitarist/singer Ollie Halsall and drummer John Halsey, along with Rikki Fataar, a multi-instrumentalist who had become a member of the Beach Boys in the early 1970s. One of the highlights of All You Need Is Cash, and of the album itself, is the brilliant Piggy In The Middle, a parody of I Am The Walrus that includes the same kind of production techniques used by George Martin for the Magical Mystery Tour album.<br /><br />Artist: Lovin' Spoonful<br />Title: Alley Oop<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Dallas Frazier<br />Label: Sundazed/Kama Sutra<br />Year: 1965/2011<br /> The Lovin' Spoonful didn't actually release their version of the old Hollywood Argyles song Alley Oop as a single in 1965. In fact, they didn't release the song at all, even though it was recorded during the same sessions that became their debut LP that year. In 2011 the people at Sundazed decided to create a "single that never was", pairing Alley Oop with the full-length version of Night Owl Blues, a song that had been included on the 1965 debut in edited form. The Spoonful version of Alley Oop has an almost garage-band feel about it, and is perhaps the best indication on vinyl of what the band actually sounded like in their early days as a local fixture on the Greenwich Village scene.<br /><br />Artist: Lovin' Spoonful<br />Title: She Is Still A Mystery To Me<br />Source: LP: Everything Playing<br />Writer(s): John Sebastian<br />Label: Kama Sutra<br />Year: 1967<br /> John Sebastian's tenure as a member of the Lovin' Spoonful was coming to an end (and co-founder Zal Yanovsky's had already ended) when She Is Still A Mystery To Me was released in September of 1967. His departure for a solo career may have been hastened by the fact that She Is Still A Mystery To Me was the first Lovin' Spoonful song released in the US that did not make the top 20. As it turned out, it was also the group's last top 40 hit as well, peaking at #28. The song was included on the album Everything Playing in December of 1967, but that album failed to crack the top 100 on the LP chart. It was clearly time for Sebastian and the others to move on to other things.<br /> <br />Artist: Lovin' Spoonful<br />Title: Night Owl Blues<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Butler/Boone/Yanovsky/Sebastian<br />Label: Kama Sutra/Sundazed<br />Year: Recorded 1965, released 2011<br /> Night Owl Blues was first released on the Lovin Spoonful's first album, Do You Believe In Magic, making an encore appearance as the B side of their 1966 hit Daydream. The original recording was edited down to less than three minutes on both releases. In 2011 Sundazed issued a previously unreleased recording of the Spoonful's high energy cover of the Hollywood Argyles hit Alley Oop on 45 RPM vinyl, backed with a longer, less edited version of Night Owl Blues made from the same original 1965 recording as the earlier release. The track features some nice blues harp from John Sebastian and a rare electric guitar solo from Zal Yanovsky. <br /><br />Artist: Early Rationals (circa 1966)<br />Title: I Need You<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Ray Davies<br />Label: Rhino (original label: A Squared)<br />Year: 1968<br /> The Rationals were formed in 1965 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They soon got the attention of local label A2 (A Squared), and had a series of regional hits in the same Detroit soul-rock style favored by such notables as Mitch Ryder and Bob Seger. One of the best of these was a cover of a Kinks B side, I Need You, which the Rationals recorded in 1966, but did not release until late 1967, when it appeared as a B side backing another artist entirely. To confuse the matter the record was credited to the Early Rationals (circa 1966). Even stranger was the fact that the Rationals had released a Gerry Goffin/Carole King song called I Need You on the same label earlier that same year. My money's on this one as the better of the two tracks.<br /><br />Artist: Nazz<br />Title: Open My Eyes<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Nazz)<br />Writer(s): Todd Rundgren<br />Label: Rhino (original label: SGC)<br />Year: 1968<br /> The Nazz was a band from Philadelphia who were basically the victims of their own bad timing. 1968 was the year that progressive FM radio began to get recognition as a viable format while top 40 radio was being dominated by bubble gum pop bands such as the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. The Nazz, on the other hand, sounded more like British bands such as the Move and Brian Augur's Trinity that were performing well on the UK charts but were unable to buy a hit in the US. The band had plenty of talent, most notably guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Todd Rundgren, who would go on to establish a successful career, both as an artist (he played all the instruments on his Something/Anything LP and led the band Utopia) and a producer (Grand Funk's We're An American Band, as well as many others). Open My Eyes was originally issued as the A side of a single, but ended up being eclipsed in popularity by its flip side, a song called Hello It's Me, that ended up getting airplay in Boston and other cities, eventually hitting the Canadian charts (a new version would become a solo hit for Rundgren five years later).<br /><br />Artist: Third Rail<br />Title: Run Run Run<br />Source: CD: Even More Nuggets<br />Writer: Resnick/Resnick/Levine<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Run Run Run is actually a studio creation issied in 1967 from husband and wife team Artie and Kris Resnick collaborating with Joey Levine, who sings lead vocals on the track. They only performed the song live once (in Cincinatti, of all places) as the Third Rail. All three would find a home as part of the Kasenetz-Katz bubble gum machine that would make Buddah Records a major player in 1968, with Levine himself singing lead for one of the label's most successful groups, the Ohio Express. <br /><br />Artist: Love Exchange<br />Title: Swallow The Sun<br />Source: LP: Nuggets vol. 10-Folk Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): John Merrill<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Uptown)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Comparisons have been made between the Love Exchange and another Los Angeles band, the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. It only makes sense, after all, since both groups were best described as "psychedelic folk-rock" and both were fronted by a female vocalist. In the case of the Love Exchange, this was 16-year-old Bonnie Blunt. What really invites the comparison, however, is the fact that the Love Exchange's best-known song (and only single) Swallow The Sun was written by John Merrill, leader of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. Despite their lack of recording success, the Love Exchange lasted until 1969, with their last appearance being at the Newport '69 Pop Festival.<br /><br />Artist: Dantalion's Chariot<br />Title: The Madman Running Through The Fields<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Money/Somers<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1967<br /> In the early to mid 1960s the US had literally hundreds of talented artists playing the so-called "chitlin' circuit", whose records appeared on the Rhythm & Blues charts, sometimes crossing over to the pop charts as well. In the UK, these artists were a distant legend, although their music was quite popular there. To fill a demand for live R&B in British clubs, several cover bands popped up throughout the decade. One of the most popular, and musically accomplished, bands on the London R&B/soul scene was Zoot Money's Big Roll Band. As the decade rolled on, however, public tastes started changing, and the Big Roll Band was finding it difficult to find steady work. Money responded to the situation by disbanding the group and forming the four-piece Dantalion's Chariot in 1967. The band soon gained a reputation for both their musicianship and their light show, and were considered, along with Pink Floyd and Tomorrow, to be the cream of the crop of British psychedelic bands. Unfortunately, the band had too much talent to survive long, and split up by the end of the year. Just how talented were they? Well, in addition to Money himself on vocals and keyboards, the band included a guitarist named Andy Somers, who would eventually change the spelling of his last name to Summers and form a band called the Police. Then there was the drummer, Colin Allen, who would soon resurface as a member of John Mayall's new band on the album Blues From Laurel Canyon. Not bad for a group that only released one single.<br /><br />Artist: Moody Blues<br />Title: The Night<br />Source: LP: Days Of Future Passed<br />Writer(s): Redwave/Knight<br />Label: Deram<br />Year: 1967<br /> When the year 1967 started, the Moody Blues were still considered a one-hit wonder for their song Go Now, which had topped the British charts in 1965 and gone into the top 10 in the US as well. None of their follow-up singles had charted in the US, although they did manage to hit the #22 spot in the UK with From the Bottom of My Heart (I Love You). Despite still being a solid live draw, the group had pretty much dissolved by autumn of 1966. In November of that year the band reformed, with two new members, John Lodge and Justin Hayward, joining Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas and Graeme Edge. At this point they were in debt to their record company (British Decca), and agreed to make a rock and roll version of Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony for the company's new Deram label, working with Peter Knight and various Decca studio musicians known informally as the London Festival Orchestra. The project was soon abandoned, but the Moodys convinced Knight to collaborate with the band to record an album of the own original material. That album was Days Of Future Passed, which rose to the #27 spot on the British charts (and five years later made the top 5 on the US album charts). The album was divided into several suites, each representing a particular time of day, with Knight's orchestral compositions linking the various songs together. Although initially only one song (Tuesday Afternoon) was issued as a single, eventually Nights In White Satin, in edited form, became an international hit. The song is part of the album's final suite, The Night, that consists of Hayward's Nights In White Satin, Late Lament (a poem written by Edge and spoken by Pinder) and Knight's closing orchestral passage, Resolvement. By 1972 the original master tape of Days Of Future Passed had deteriorated to the point that a new mix was made from the original multi-track tape. This mix was used for all subsequent pressings of Days Of Future Passed, including this 1981 Mobile Fidelity pressing of the LP. In 2017 a pristine copy of the original LP was found, and a new master tape was created from that copy, although I have not yet heard it. Apparently there are some differences between the two, including extra measures of music here and there that were edited out of the newer mix.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Ain't She Sweet<br />Source: LP: Golden Days Of British Rock (originally released on 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Yellen/Ager<br />Label: Sire (original US label: Atco)<br />Year: Recorded 1961, released 1964<br /> Both the Beatles and singer Tony Sheridan were regular performers at Hamburg, Germany's Top 10 Club in 1961. The country's most successful jazz bandleader, Bert Kaempfert, frequented the club and ended up signing both Sheridan and the Beatles to a one-year contract with his own production company. The Beatles showed up at Hamburg's Friedrich-Ebert-Halle (a high school gymnasium) in June for their first professional recording session, not realizing that they were there to serve as Sheridan's backup band. After laying down five tracks with Sheridan, the Beatles were given the opportunity to record a couple songs on their own. Along with an instrumental called Beatle Bop, the band chose to record the old standard Ain't She Sweet, done in a style based on that of rockabilly star Gene Vincent, with John Lennon on lead vocals. The band expected the songs to be released as a single in Germany, but Polydor Records instead chose a pair of the tracks with Sheridan, My Bonnie and The Saints. Realizing that they could do much better, the Beatles chose to sell the rights to their two tracks back to Kaempfert's company, who ended up releasing it nearly three years later in France, on an EP called (naturally) Les Beatles. In July of 1964 Atco released Ain't She Sweet as a single in the US, with Nobody's Child, one of the previously unreleased tracks backing Sheridan, on the B side. <br /><br />Artist: Country Joe And The Fish<br />Title: I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag<br />Source: Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as EP)<br />Writer(s): Joe McDonald<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Rag Baby)<br />Year: 1965<br /> A relatively new arrival on the highly politicized Berkeley folk music scene in 1965, Country Joe McDonald had already organized a loose group of musicians to play at "teach-ins" designed to educate the public about what was really going on in Vietnam. He was also attempting to put together a newspaper with a similar focus, but found himself short of usable copy. His solution was to create a "talking issue" by inserting a 7" 33 1/3 RPM record into the paper. His own contribution to the record was the first recorded version of a song that would later become one of the best-known antiwar tunes ever penned: the iconic I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag. The actual makeup of the band called Country Joe And The Fish on this recording is not quite clear, other than the fact that both McDonald and Barry Melton played on it. An early video made of the group performing the song shows several people I don't recognize alternating on the vocals.<br /><br />Artist: Del-Vetts<br />Title: That's The Way It Is<br />Source: CD: Oh Yeah! The Best Of Dunwich Records (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Jim Lauer<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: Dunwich)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Chicago's Del-Vetts only released three singles before changing their name to Pride And Joy in 1967. The third of these was a song called I Call My Baby STP, and a genuine STP sticker was included with the record (whether or not they had permission to do so is anyone's guess). The B side of that single was a tune called That's The Way It Is, and contains the band's only writing credit given to lead vocalist Jim Lauer, who had founded the band in 1963.<br /><br />Artist: Monkees<br />Title: Peter Perceival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky/Pleasant Valley Sunday<br />Source: LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.<br />Writer: Tork/Goffin/King<br />Label: Colgems<br />Year: 1967<br /> The album version of Pleasant Valley Sunday differs from the single version in two ways. First, on the original LP Peter Tork's spoken piece Peter Perceival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky precedes the song on the album and is considered part of the same track. Second, the mix is different, with the background vocals more prominent on the stereo album mix. <br /><br />Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band<br />Title: Ritual #1<br />Source: CD: Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil<br />Writer(s): Markley/Harris<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Technically, Volume III is actually the fourth album by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. The first one was an early example of a practice that would become almost mandatory for a new band in the 1990s. The LP, titled Volume 1, was recorded at a home studio and issued on the tiny Fifa label. Many of the songs on that LP ended up being re-recorded for their major label debut, which they called Part One. That album was followed by Volume II, released in late 1967. The following year they released their final album for Reprise, which in addition to being called Volume III was subtitled A Child's Guide To Good And Evil. Included on that album were Ritual #1 and Ritual #2, neither of which sounds anything like the other.<br /><br /> </p><p><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-52878420060713676842024-02-04T05:10:00.000-08:002024-02-04T05:10:58.565-08:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2406 (starts 2/5/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/515580 </p><p><br /> This week's show is half progression through the years (1968-1973) and half free-form. For the most part it's album tracks, although there is one genuine hit single tossed into the mix, along with a couple of instrumental B sides. <br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Stray Cat Blues<br />Source: CD: Beggar's Banquet<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: ABKCO (original label: London) <br />Year: 1968<br /> As a military dependent overseas I had access to the local Base Exchange. The downside of buying albums there was that they were always a month or two behind the official stateside release dates getting albums in stock. The upside is that the BX had a special of the month that was always a new release for sale at something like 40% off the regular album price. The December 1968 special was a classic-to-be from the Rolling Stones called Beggar's Banquet, which I bought for a buck and a half. Full-priced albums that month included new releases by the Beatles (white album), Hendrix (Electric Ladyland) and Cream (Wheels of Fire). Astute readers may have noticed that all of those full-priced albums were double LP sets. Needless to say, by the end of the month I was broke.<br /><br />Artist: King Crimson<br />Title: 21st Century Schizoid Man<br />Source: CD: In The Court Of The Crimson King<br />Writer: Fripp/McDonald/Lake/Giles/Sinfield<br />Label: Discipline Global Mobile (original US label: Atlantic)<br />Year: 1969<br /> There are several bands with a legitimate claim to starting the prog-rock movement of the mid-70s. The one most musicians cite as the one that started it all, however, is King Crimson. Led by Robert Fripp, the band went through several personnel changes over the years. Many of the members went on to greater commercial success as members of other bands, including guitarist/keyboardist Ian McDonald (Foreigner), and lead vocalist/bassist Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) from the original lineup heard on In The Court Of The Crimson King. Additionally, poet Peter Sinfield, who wrote all King Crimson's early lyrics, would go on to perform a similar function for Emerson, Lake and Palmer, including their magnum opus Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends. Other original members included Michael Giles on drums and Fripp himself on guitar. 21st Century Schizoid Man, as the first song on the first album by King Crimson, can quite accurately be cited as the song that got the whole thing started.<br /><br />Artist: Grand Funk Railroad<br />Title: Mark Says Alright<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Farner/Brewer/Schacher<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1970<br /> Grand Funk Railroad's Live Album, released in 1970, continued the group's pattern of getting universally negative reviews from the rock press while selling millions of copies to the band's fans. Unlike most live albums, the double LP contained no overdubs or remixes, reflecting the band's desire to present an accurate, if flawed, representation of how the band actually sounded in concert. Although most of the songs on the Live Album are also available as studio tracks on their first three albums, one track, the five-minute long instrumental piece called Mark Says Alright, was nearly exclusive to the Live Album. I say "nearly" because the track was also issued as the B side of the album's first single, Heartbreaker. <br /><br />Artist: Allman Brothers Band<br />Title: Statesboro Blues<br />Source: CD: Eat A Peach (Deluxe edition)<br />Writer(s): Willie McTell<br />Label: Mercury<br />Year: Recorded 1971, released 2007<br /> When Mercury released its Deluxe edition of the 1971 Allman Brothers band album Eat A Peach they included, as a second disc, much of the band's final live performance at Bill Graham's Fillmore East, taped on June 27, 1971. As always, the band started off with Willie McTell's Statesboro Blues. It's interesting to compare this performance to the one just three months earlier that starts off the double LP At Fillmore East. Not content to play a song twice the same way, the June performance shows a band continuing to improve with every performance.<br /><br />Artist: America<br />Title: Ventura Highway<br />Source: LP: Homecoming<br />Writer(s): Dewey Bunnell<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1972<br /> The first thing you need to understand about the song Ventura Highway is that there is no such road as "Ventura Highway". There is a Ventura Freeway and a Ventura Boulevard, but no Ventura Highway. So where did Dewey Bunnell of the band America get the title? According to Bunnell himself, it goes back to his childhood, when the family car had a flat tire while traveling down the Pacific Coast Highway near Lompoc, California. As Dewey and his brother waited for their dad to finish changing the tire, Dewey noticed a road sign indicating how far it was to Ventura. The rest of the song's lyrics are mostly based on Bunnell's childhood memories as well.<br /><br />Artist: Mothers<br />Title: Dirty Love<br />Source: CD: Strictly Commercial (originally released on LP: Over-Nite Sensation)<br />Writer(s): Frank Zappa<br />Label: Zappa (original label: Discreet)<br />Year: 1973<br /> After a series of experimental and jazz-oriented albums, Frank Zappa returned to rock with a pair of albums that defined the direction his live performances would take in the 1970s and beyond. The first, Over-Nite Sensation, was credited to the Mothers of Invention, and was released in 1973. The second was Apostrophe('), which, although recorded at the same time as Over-Nite Sensation, was released as a Frank Zappa solo album the following year. Both albums combine superb musicianship from the likes of George Clinton and Jean-Luc Ponty with Zappa's unique brand of satiric humor, and are among Zappa's most popular releases. One of the highlights of Over-Nite Sensation, Dirty Love, contains the repeated phrase "The poodle bites, the poodle chews it", which also shows up in a track from the Apostrophe(') album, albeit in a different form. In both cases the refrain is sung by the Ikettes, who were, at Ike Turner's insistence, excluded from the album's musician credits, although they did get paid for their work (but, again at Turner's insistence, at the minimum allowable wage rate, or so Turner was led to believe). <br /><br />Artist: David Bowie<br />Title: She Shook Me Cold<br />Source: LP: Metrobolist (originally issued as The Man Who Sold The World)<br />Writer(s): David Bowie<br />Label: Parlophone (original label: Mercury)<br />Year: 1970<br /> Primarily due to a lack of promotion by his record label, David Bowie's self-titled 1969 album was a commercial failure, despite the presence of the hit single Space Oddity. Seeing his career as a solo artist beginning to falter, Bowie decided that his next album would be a band effort, and recruited guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Tony Visconti and drummer Woodmansey to form a band called Hype. The album was to be called Metrobolist, but at the last minute Mercury Records, without Bowie's knowledge or permission, changed the title to The Man Who Sold The World, modifying the cover art as well. Bowie, a newlywed, was somewhat preoccupied with his new wife Angie during sessions for the album, and according to Visconti most of the songs were "written by all four of us. We'd jam in a basement, and Bowie would just say whether he liked them or not." One song in particular, She Shook Me Cold, has been singled out as an example of this process, with Bowie's lyrics (filled with veiled references to oral sex) added after the instrumental tracks had been recorded and arranged by Ronson and Visconti. In the end, however, all the songs on the album were credited solely to Bowie, who nearly thirty years later was quoted as saying "I really did object to the impression that I did not write the songs on The Man Who Sold the World. You only have to check out the chord changes. No-one writes chord changes like that."<br /><br />Artist: Rush<br />Title: What You're Doing<br />Source: CD: Rush<br />Writer(s): Lee/Lifeson<br />Label: Mercury<br />Year: 1974<br /> The first Rush album, released in 1974, featured the band's original drummer John Rutsey, who left the band due to health issues not long after the album was released. All but one of the songs on the album, including What You're Doing, were co-written by guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, and reflect the influence of bands like Led Zeppelin, Cream and Yes on Rush's early style. The album was originally released in Canada on Rush's own label, Moon Records, in March of 1974 before being picked up for international distribution by Mercury Records later that year.<br /><br />Artist: Jeff Beck<br />Title: Goodbye Pork Pie Hat<br />Source: LP: Wired<br />Writer(s): Charles Mingus<br />Label: Epic<br />Year: 1976<br /> One of Jeff Beck's most celebrated tracks is his cover of the Charles Mingus classic Goodbye Pork Pie Hat from the 1976 LP Wired. The tune remained a centerpiece of Beck's stage repertoire for the rest of his career.<br /><br />Artist: Spirit<br />Title: Space Child/When I Touch You<br />Source: CD: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus<br />Writer(s): Locke/Ferguson<br />Label: Epic/Legacy<br />Year: 1970<br /> Spirit keyboardist John Locke used a combination of piano, organ and synthesizers (then a still-new technology) to set the mood for the entire Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus recording sessions with his instrumental piece Space Child. The tune starts with a rolling piano riff that gives bassist Mark Andes a rare opportunity to carry the melody line before switching to a jazzier tempo that manages to seamlessly transition from a waltz tempo to straight time without anyone noticing. After a short reprise of the tune's opening riff the track segues into Jay Ferguson's When I Touch You, a song that manages to be light and heavy at the same time.<br /><br />Artist: J. Geils Band<br />Title: Magic's Mood<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Juke Joint Jimmy<br />Label: Atlantic<br />Year: 1976<br /> My two favorite J. Geils Band tracks are both B sides featuring the harmonica playing of Magic Dick. Both Magic's Mood, from 1976, and 1971's Whammer Jammer are credited to Juke Joint Jimmy. Of course, this writing credit got me curious, so I did a little research and found out that Juke Joint Jimmy (sometimes spelled Jimmie) is actually a pseudonym created specifically for songs written by the entire band. So now I guess I can put Juke Joint Jimmy in the same class as Nanker Phelge and McGannahan Skjellyfetti. <br /></p><p><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-28096857536761099542024-01-28T16:21:00.000-08:002024-01-28T16:21:44.856-08:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2405 (starts 1/29/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/514590</p><p><br /> This week's show starts off with a whole bunch of attitude that doesn't entirely disappear over the course of two hours, but does get tempered with things like a Beatles set, some philosophical musings and a bit of psychedelic storytelling. Yeah, just a typical episode of Stuck in the Psychedelic Era.<br /><br />Artist: Standells<br />Title: Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White<br />Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Ed Cobb<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1966<br /> If ever a song could be considered a garage-punk anthem, it's Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White, the follow-up single to the classic Dirty Water. Both songs were written by Standells' manager/producer Ed Cobb, who might be considered the record industry's answer to Ed Wood.<br /><br />Artist: Music Machine<br />Title: Wrong<br />Source: Mono British import CD: The Ultimate Turn On (originally released as 45 RPM single B side and included on LP: Turn On The Music Machine)<br />Writer(s): Sean Bonniwell<br />Label: Big Beat (original label: Original Sound)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Sean Bonniwell was a member of the mainstream (i.e. lots of appearances on TV variety shows hosted by people like Perry Como and Bob Hope) folk group The Lamplighters in the early 60s. By 1966 he had morphed into one of the more mysterious figures on the LA music scene, leading a proto-punk band dressed entirely in black. Bonniwell himself wore a single black glove (Michael Jackson was about seven years old at the time), and was one of the most prolific songwriters of the time. His recordings, often featuring the distinctive Farfisa organ sound, were a primary influence on later LA bands such as Iron Butterfly and the Doors. One of the first Music Machine tracks to appear on vinyl was Wrong, which was released as the B side of the band's first single and included on their debut LP. <br /><br />Artist: Sonics<br />Title: He's Waitin'<br />Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 8-The Northwest (originally released on LP: Boom)<br />Writer(s): Gerald Roslie<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Etiquette)<br />Year: 1966<br /> If you were to ask a punk rock musician about his or her influences, one name that would certainly be near the top of the list is the Sonics. Formed in Tacoma, Washington in 1960 by guitarist Larry Parypa, the group began to take off with the addition of keyboardist Gerry Roslie, who took over lead vocals in 1964. Their first single, The Witch, released in late 1964, became the biggest selling locally produced single in the history of the entire Northwestern US, despite a lack of airplay due to its controversial subject matter. An LP, Here Are The Sonics, soon followed, along with several more singles on the local Etiquette label. Throughout 1965 the band continued to record new material between gigs, releasing a second LP, Boom, in February on 1966. I highlight of the album was He's Waitin' a song written to an unfaithful girlfriend. The final lines of the song make it clear just who "he" is: <br />"You think you are happy, I got news for you<br />Well, Satan found out, little girl, you're through"<br /><br />Artist: Steppenwolf<br />Title: The Pusher<br />Source: CD: Easy Rider Soundtrack (originally released on LP: Steppenwolf)<br />Writer(s): Hoyt Axton<br />Label: MCA (original label: Dunhill)<br />Year: 1968<br /> While AM radio was all over Born To Be Wild in 1968 (taking the song all the way to the # 2 spot on the top 40 charts), the edgier FM stations were playing heavier tunes from the debut Steppenwolf album. The most controversial (and thus most popular) of these heavier tunes was Hoyt Axton's The Pusher, with it's repeated use of the line "God damn the Pusher." Axton himself did not record the song until 1971, by which time the song was already burned indelibly in the public consciousness as a Steppenwolf tune.<br /><br />Artist: Quicksilver Messenger Service<br />Title: Codine<br />Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: Revolution soundtrack)<br />Writer: Buffy Sainte-Marie<br />Label: Rhino (original label: United Artists)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Buffy St. Marie's Codine was a popular favorite among the club crowd in mid-60s California. In 1967, L.A. band The Leaves included it on their second LP. Around the same time, up the coast in San Francisco, the Charlatans selected it to be their debut single. The suits at Kama-Sutra Records, however, balked at the choice, and instead released a cover of the Coasters' The Shadow Knows. The novelty-flavored Shadow bombed so bad that the label decided not to release any more Charlatans tracks, thus leaving their version of Codine gathering dust in the vaults until the mid 1990s, when the entire Kama-Sutra sessions were released on CD. Meanwhile, back in 1968, Quicksilver Messenger Service were still without a record contract, despite pulling decent crowds at various Bay Area venues, including a credible appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. Not long after that the producers of the quasi-documentary film Revolution decided to include footage of three as-yet unsigned Bay Area bands, one of which was Quicksilver Messenger Service, who performed Codine in the film. Rather than use that performance for the soundtrack album, the producers chose to have the band re-record the song, making Codine the group's first officially released studio recording.<br /><br />Artist: Ultimate Spinach<br />Title: Baroque # 1<br />Source: LP: Ultimate Spinach<br />Writer(s): Ian Bruce-Douglas<br />Label: M-G-M<br />Year: 1967<br /> Of the half dozen or so major US record labels of the time, only two, Decca and M-G-M, failed to sign any San Francisco bands in the late 1960s. Decca, which had been bought by MCA in the early 60s, was fast fading as a major force in the industry (ironic considering that Universal, the direct descendant of MCA, is now the world's largest record company). M-G-M, on the other hand, had a strong presence on the Greenwich Village scene thanks to Jerry Schoenbaum at the Verve Forecast label, who had signed such critically-acclaimed artists as Dave Van Ronk, Tim Hardin and the Blues Project. Taking this as an inspiration, the parent label decided to create interest in the Boston music scene, aggressively promoting (some would say hyping) the "Boss-Town Sound". One of the bands signed was Ultimate Spinach, which was led by keyboardist Ian Bruce-Douglas, who wrote all the band's material, including Baroque # 1, an instrumental that shows the influence of West Coast bands such as Country Joe And The Fish.<br /> <br />Artist: Crazy World Of Arthur Brown<br />Title: Prelude/Nightmare<br />Source: British import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Arthur Brown<br />Label: Polydor (original UK label: Track)<br />Year: 1968<br /> One of rock's first "theatrical" performers, Arthur Brown first began to get noticed in Paris, where he spent a year developing his stage show and unique vocal style with his band the Arthur Brown Set, which was formed in 1965. On his return to England he joined up with keyboardist Vincent Crane. By 1967 the Vincent Crane Combo had changed its name to The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and was becoming a major force on London's underground music scene. In late 1967 the band went to work on their self-titled debut LP, which was released in the UK on the Track label in June of 1968. Spurred by the success of the single Fire, the album was picked up for American distribution by Atlantic Records that same year. The people at Atlantic, however, felt that the drums were a bit off and insisted on adding horns and strings to cover the deficiency. The result can be heard on tracks like Prelude/Nightmare, which opens the album. <br /><br />Artist: Turtles<br />Title: Let Me Be<br />Source: CD: 20 Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: It Ain't Me Babe and as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): P.F. Sloan<br />Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)<br />Year: 1965<br /> The Turtles were nothing if not able to redefine themselves when the need arose. Originally a surf band known as the Crossfires, the band quickly adopted an "angry young men" stance with their first single, Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe, and the subsequent album of the same name. For the follow-up single the band chose a track from their album, Let Me Be, that, although written by a different writer, had the same general message as It Ain't Me Babe. The band would soon switch over to love songs like Happy Together and She'd Rather Be With Me before taking their whole chameleon bit to its logical extreme with an album called Battle Of The Bands on which each track was meant to sound like it was done by an entirely different group. <br /><br />Artist: Seeds<br />Title: Just Let Go<br />Source: LP: A Web Of Sound<br />Writer(s): Saxon/Hooper/Savage<br />Label: GNP Crescendo<br />Year: 1966<br /> After listening to Just Let Go, from the second Seeds album, A Web Of Sound, it's easy to see why there were some in Los Angeles that were convinced that the band was actually from another planet. An acid-rock classic.<br /><br />Artist: 13th Floor Elevators<br />Title: Levitation<br />Source: British import CD: Easter Everywhere<br />Writer(s): Hall/Sutherland<br />Label: Charly (original US label: International Artists)<br />Year: 1967<br /> The first album by the 13th Floor Elevators has long been considered a milestone, in that it was one of the first truly psychedelic albums ever released (and the first to actually use the word "psychedelic" in the title). For their followup LP, the group decided to take their time, going through some personnel changes in the process. Still, the core membership of Roky Erickson, Tommy Hall and Stacy Sutherland held it together long enough to complete Easter Everywhere, releasing the album in 1967. The idea behind the album was to present a spiritual vision that combined both Eastern and Western religious concepts in a rock context. For the most part, such as on tracks like Levitation, it succeeds remarkably well, considering the strife the band was going through at the time. <br /><br />Artist: Mad River<br />Title: Amphetamine Gazelle<br />Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Mad River)<br />Writer: Lawrence Hammond<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)<br />Year: 1968<br /> By 1968 acid was no longer the drug of choice on the streets of San Francisco. In its place, crystal meth was beginning to dominate the scene, with a corresponding increase in ripoffs and burns. The local musicians often reflected this change, with some, such as Canned Heat, declaring that Speed Kills and moving south to Laurel Canyon. Others, such as Mad River (originally from Yellow Springs, Ohio, but Bay Area residents since early 1967), attempted to use ridicule to combat the problem, but with no appreciable success, speed freaks not being known for their sense of humor (or any other kind of sense for that matter).<br /><br />Artist: Misunderstood<br />Title: Children Of The Sun<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Hill/Brown<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Fontana)<br />Year: Recorded 1966, released 1969<br /> Formed in Riverside, California in 1965, the Misunderstood relocated to London in 1966, where they soon became one of the top bands on the local underground scene. Unfortunately, the band was plagued by issues involving draft eligibility, resulting in original rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter Greg Treadwell returning to the states soon after arriving in the UK. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as his replacement, Londoner Tony Hill, teamed up with vocalist Rick Brown to write even better songs, augmented by the talents of Glenn Ross Campbell, who played his leads on a pedal steel guitar. The band soon signed with Fontana, releasing a single in December of 1966 before once again running into problems with the draft board, this time concerning Brown. With their frontman gone, the Misunderstood soon disbanded, with the remaining American members returning to California. Two years later Fontana released a second single by the Misunderstood, Children Of The Sun, which has since come to be regarded as a classic example of garage-flavored psychedelic music. <br /><br />And now for something completely different:<br /><br />Artist: Grateful Dead<br />Title: Friend Of The Devil<br />Source: LP: American Beauty<br />Writer(s): Garcia/Dawson/Hunter<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1970<br /> The Grateful Dead spent three years and four albums trying to capture the energy of their live performances on vinyl. Having finally succeeded with the 1969 Live Dead album the group began to focus more on their songwriting capabilities. The result was two outstanding studio albums, both released in 1970: Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. Of the two, American Beauty is made up almost entirely of songs played on acoustic instruments, including pedal steel guitar, which was played by Jerry Garcia. One of the best-known tracks on American Beauty is Friend Of The Devil, which lyricist Robert Hunter referred to as "the closest we've come to what may be a classic song." Not to take anything away from Friend Of The Devil, but I'd have to say that at least three other songs (Ripple, Sugar Magnolia and Truckin') on American Beauty also qualify as classics. <br /><br />Artist: Yardbirds<br />Title: Psycho Daisies<br />Source: Mono CD: Roger The Engineer (bonus track originally released in UK as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): The Yardbirds<br />Label: Great American Music (original British label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Happenings Ten Years Time Ago was the only single released by the Yardbirds to feature both Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page on lead guitar. The US version of the single featured a track from the band's 1966 LP Over Under Sideways Down (aka Roger The Engineer) on the B side, while the British single featured a unique recording of a song called Psycho Daisies that featured Beck on lead guitar, Page on bass and Jim McCarty on drums. Although credited to the entire band, Psycho Daisies was reportedly written about a woman that Beck was in love with at the time, and features a rare lead vocal performance by the guitarist.<br /><br />Artist: Cream<br />Title: Take It Back<br />Source: Mono European import LP: Disraeli Gears<br />Writer: Bruce/Brown<br />Label: Lilith (original US label: Atco)<br />Year: 1967<br /> After seven years of serving in the Air Force liason office at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Aurora, Colorado, my dad got transferred to Weisbaden Air Force Base in Germany. Standard practice at the time was for the married GI to go on ahead of the rest of the family and find a place to live "on the economy." My dad, already having quite a bit of time in the service, was able to instead get a spot in a place called Kastel, which was a group of WWII Panzer barracks that had been adapted for use by American military with families. When the rest of us arrived in August I was happily surprised to find that my dad, in addition to finding us a place to live, had bought a state-of-the-art Akai X-355 Tape Recorder using money he had won at Lotto, along with a pair of Koss headphones. I of course had to go to the Base Exchange to look for pre-recorded tapes. Already having experience with reel to reel machines, I knew that tapes recorded at 3 3/4 ips had more tape hiss than those recorded at 7 1/2 ips, so I was resolved to only buy tapes recorded at the faster speed. Unfortunately several albums I wanted were only available at the slower speed. The problem was resolved a year later when my dad finally got a Dual turntable to hook up to the tape recorder. I immediately went out and bought a reel of blank tape; the first album I made a copy of was Cream's Disraeli Gears. I would often fall asleep listening to that tape, which meant I ended up sleeping through the last songs on the album, including Take It Back. I must have done some kind of sleep learning, though, since to this day I can quote the lyrics of the entire song.<br /><br />Artist: Jelly Bean Bandits<br />Title: Tapestries<br />Source: British Import CD: All Kinds Of Highs (originally released on LP: The Jelly Bean Bandits)<br />Writer(s): Buck/Donald/Dougherty/Raab/Scalfari<br />Label: Big Beat (original label: Mainstream)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Of the various albums released on Bob Shad's Mainstream label from 1966-1969, one of the most fully realized was the first (and only) album by the Jelly Bean Bandits. Formed as the Mirror in 1966, the Bandits built up a following in the native Newburgh, NY and surrounding areas over a period on months. The particularly brash move of tearing pages out of the yellow pages and showing up unannounced at the offices of various record labels led them to a meeting with Shad at Mainstream's New York offices. After listening to the band's demos Shad offered the Jelly Bean Bandits a contract to record three albums, but, sadly, only one was released. One of the highlights of that album was Tapestries, sung by drummer Joe Scalfari. The Bandits immediately got to work on a second album, but a combination of internal and financial difficulties, coupled with lack of promotional support from their label, led to the group's early demise. <br /><br />Artist: Peanut Butter Conspiracy<br />Title: Captain Sandwich<br />Source: CD: Is Spreading/The Great Conspiracy (originally released on LP: The Great Conspiracy)<br />Writer(s): John Merrill<br />Label: Collectables (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1967<br /> The second album by the Peanut Butter Conspiracy saw the band asserting its independence from producer Gary Usher, whose Brian Wilson influenced production style had included bringing in studio musicians to make the band sound more commercial. The Great Conspiracy, however, was a much more psychedelic album, although in some cases, such as Captain Sandwich, the psychedelia borders on the excessively bizarre.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Back In The USSR/Dear Prudence<br />Source: CD: The Beatles<br />Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)<br />Year: 1968<br /> The day it appeared in the Ramstein AFB Base Exchange, I bought a numbered copy of The Beatles (aka the White Album) without ever having heard a single track from it. I took it home, unwrapped it from the cellophane and put it on the turntable. My first thought when I head the album's opening track, Back In The USSR, was "this sounds like the Beach Boys!" The song was, according to Paul McCartney, written from the point of view of a Russian spy returning home to the USSR after an extended mission in the United States, and that he intended it to be a "spoof" on the typical American international traveller's contention that "it's just so much better back home" and their yearning for the comforts of their homeland. The song ends with the sound of a jet plane that cross fades into John Lennon's Dear Prudence, a song written with the intention of bringing Mia Farrow's sister Prudence out of her shell while they were all in India to study with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Getting Better<br />Source: CD: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band<br />Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Following their 1966 North American tour, the Beatles announced that they were giving up live performances to concentrate on their songwriting and studio work. Freed of the responsibilities of the road (and under the influence of mind-expanding substances), the band members found themselves discovering new sonic possibilities as never before (or since), hitting a creative peak with their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, often cited as the greatest album ever recorded. The individual Beatles were about to move in separate musical directions, but as of Sgt. Pepper's were still functioning mostly as a single unit, as is heard on the chorus of Getting Better, in which Paul McCartney's opening line, "I have to admit it's getting better", is immediately answered by John Lennon's playfully cynical "can't get no worse". The members continued to experiment with new instrumental styles as well, such as George Harrison's use of sitar on the song's bridge, accompanied by Ringo Starr's bongos. <br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: I'm So Tired<br />Source: CD: The Beatles<br />Writer: Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Parlophone (original label: Apple)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Somehow I can't help but thinking of the Firesign Theatre's Further Adventures of Nick Danger every time I hear this song. I guess that's better than thinking of Charles Manson's group, which some of the other songs on the "white album" make me do.<br /><br />Artist: Country Joe And The Fish<br />Title: Away Bounce My Bubbles<br />Source: LP: Together<br />Writer(s): Chicken Hirsh<br />Label: Vanguard<br />Year: 1968<br /> The third Country Joe And The Fish LP, Together, was the group's most commercially successful album, despite the fact that Country Joe McDonald himself had left the band not long before sessions for the album started, returning in time to appear on the album's first track, along with most of side two. As a result, only two of the album's eleven tracks are credited solely to McDonald as a songwriter. Chicken Hirsh, whose previous contributions had been limited to co-writing one song with David Cohen and participating in a couple group compositions, had five writing credits on Together, including Away Bounce My Bubbles, one of two solo compositions from the drummer (who also sings on the track). <br /><br />Artist: Bob Seger System<br />Title: Death Row<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer: Bob Seger<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1968<br /> I like to play Bob Seger's Death Row, written from the perspective of a convicted murderer waiting to be executed, for fans of the Silver Bullet Band who think that Turn the Page is about as intense as it gets. I consider myself lucky to have stumbled across this rare single at a radio station I used to work for. Even better, the station had no desire to keep the record, since the A side, the equally intense anti-war song 2+2=?, never charted. Their loss.<br /><br />Artist: Deep Purple<br />Title: One More Rainy Day<br />Source: LP: Shades Of Deep Purple<br />Writer(s): Evans/Lord<br />Label: Tetragrammaton<br />Year: 1968<br /> The last song to be recorded for Shades Of Deep Purple was a song called One More Rainy Day. Quite honestly, I find it to be the weakest track on the album, but that still puts it ahead of 90% of what was being played on top 40 radio in 1968. The song also appeared as the B side of the Hush single, which made the top 10. <br /><br />Artist: Simon and Garfunkel<br />Title: The Dangling Conversation<br />Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme)<br />Writer(s): Paul Simon<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1966<br /> The first Simon and Garfunkel album, Wednesday Morning 3AM, originally tanked on the charts, causing Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel to temporarily pursue solo careers. Simon went to England, where he wrote and recorded an album's worth of material, while Garfunkel went back to school. Meanwhile, producer Tom Wilson, fresh from producing Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone, went into the studio with the original recording of the song Sound of Silence and added electric instruments to it. The result was a surprise hit that led Paul Simon to return to the US, reuniting with Art Garfunkel and re-recording several of the tunes he had recorded as a solo artist for a new album, Sounds of Silence. The success of that album prompted Columbia to re-release Wednesday Morning, 3AM, which in turn became a bestseller. Meanwhile, Simon and Garfunkel returned to the studio to record an album of all new material. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme was yet another success that spawned several hit songs, including The Dangling Conversation, a song Simon described as similar to The Sound Of Silence, but more personal. The song was originally released as a single in fall of 1966, before the album itself came out.<br /><br />Artist: Donovan<br />Title: There Was A Time<br />Source: LP: Wear Your Love Like Heaven (also released on LP: A Gift From A Flower To A Garden)<br />Writer(s): Donovan Leitch<br />Label: Epic<br />Year: 1967<br /> Following the success of his Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow albums and a subsequent pair of hit singles, Donovan released a boxed double LP set called A Gift From A Flower To A Garden in December of 1967. His US label, Epic, had reservations about the public's willingness to shell out the money for a package that included extensive lyric sheets in addition to the two discs, each of which carried its own subtitle. To hedge their bets Epic decided to release each disc as a separate album as well. The first, entitled Wear Your Love Like Heaven, used studio musicians to back up the singer/songwriter and was more in line with his previous albums musically. Lyrically, though, Donovan had changed his tune concerning drug use, having seen too many friends become addicted to harder drugs as well as doing some jail time himself for marijuana possession. For the most part the songs on the Wear Your Love Like Heaven disc are shorter than on his previous two albums. There Was A Time, which closes out the album's first side, runs a second short of the two minute mark and yet is only the third shortest track on the ten-song LP. In fact, the entire album runs less than 24 minutes, making it even shorter than a typical US Beatles album.<br /><br />Artist: Masters Apprentices<br />Title: Theme For A Social Climber<br />Source: Australian import LP: The Master's Apprentices<br />Writer(s): Michael Bower<br />Label: Astor<br />Year: 1967<br /> Formed in 1964 by guitarists Mick Bower and Rick Morrison, drummer Brian Vaughton and bassist Gavin Webb, the Mustangs were an instrumental surf music band from Adelaide, South Australia that specialized in covers of Ventures and Shadows songs. In June of that year the Beatles came to Adelaide and were greeted by the largest crowd of their career (around 300,000 people). The popularity of the Beatles among the locals prompted the Mustangs to add vocalist Jim Keays and switch to British-influenced Beat music. In late 1965, having been introduced to the blues through records by bands like the Yardbirds and Rolling Stones, the band changed its name to the Masters Apprentices, with Bower explaining that "we are apprentices to the masters of the blues—Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Jimmy Reed, Elmore James and Robert Johnson". The band decided to relocate to Melbourne in early 1967, taking on Steve Hopgood as the band's new drummer when Vaughton decided to stay in Adelaide. The group had already released their first single, Undecided, in late 1966, and soon after the move to Melbourne followed it up with a four song EP. Undecided ended up peaking at #13 on the Australian charts on its 16-week run, prompting the band's label, Astor, to ask the band for enough more songs to fill an entire album. The band responded by recording five cover songs and two new originals by Bower. The shorter of the two was Theme For A Social Climber, a song lamenting the loss of a girlfriend to upward mobility. Unfortunately, Bower suffered a nervous breakdown in September, and the band was left without a songwriter. By the end of 1967 the band was on the verge of disintegrating, which led Keays to reorganize the band in January of 1968 with several new members, retaining only Gavin Webb from the original Mustangs lineup. He also ended up leaving the group due to stomach ulcers in April of 1968.<br /><br />Artist: Lamp Of Childhood<br />Title: No More Running Around<br />Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Mekler/Hendricks/Tani<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)<br />Year: 1967<br /> I've often wondered how it was that a somewhat raunchy rock band like Steppenwolf ended up on the same pop-oriented record label (Dunhill) as the Mamas and the Papas, the Grass Roots and 3 Dog Night. It turns out the Dunhill connection was from the man who produced Steppenwolf, Gabriel Mekler. Mekler was a member of the Lamp Of Childhood, a group that also included Cass Elliot's husband James Hendricks. Although the Lamp had a solid pop sound, they never really caught on and by the time their third and most successful single, No More Running Around, was released, the members had already moved on to other things (like, for instance, producing Steppenwolf records, or in the case of drummer Billy Mundi, joining the Mothers Of Invention).<br /><br />Artist: Moody Blues<br />Title: Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)<br />Source: CD: The Best Of 60s Supergroups (originally released on LP: Days Of Future Passed and as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Justin Hayward<br />Label: Priority (original label: Deram)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Tuesday Afternoon was the second single released from the Moody Blues' breakthrough 1967 LP Days Of Future Passed. At the insistence of producer Tony Clarke the album version of the song was retitled Forever Tuesday and was used as part one of a track called The Afternoon. When released as a single the following year, composer Justin Hayward's original title was restored to the piece, which was initially edited down to less than two and a half minutes for the 45 RPM pressing. The original album version of the song includes a separately recorded orchestral coda that segues directly into the next phase of the album, entitled The Evening. The version heard here includes the orchestral coda but does not segue into the next track.<br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: Castles Made Of Sand<br />Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released on LP: Axis: Bold As Love)<br />Writer: Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Although born in Seattle, Washington, James Marshall Hendrix was never associated with the local music scene that produced some of the loudest and raunchiest punk-rock of the mid 60s. Instead, he paid his professional dues backing R&B artists on the "chitlin circuit" of clubs playing to a mostly-black clientele, mainly in the southern US. After a short stint leading his own soul band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, Hendrix, at the behest of former Animals bassist Chas Chandler, moved to London, where he recuited a pair of local musicians, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Although known for his innovative use of feedback, Hendrix was quite capable of knocking out some of the most complex "clean" riffs ever to be committed to vinyl. A prime example of this is Castles Made Of Sand. Hendrix's highly melodic guitar work combined with unusual tempo changes and haunting lyrics makes Castles Made Of Sand a classic that sounds as fresh today as it did when Axis: Bold As Love was released in 1967. The first time I ever heard this song it gave me chills. <br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: The End<br />Source: LP: The Doors<br />Writer(s): The Doors<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1967<br /> Prior to recording their first album the Doors' honed their craft at various Sunset Strip clubs, working up live versions of the songs they would soon record, including their show-stopper, The End. Originally written as a breakup song by singer/lyricist Jim Morrison, The End runs nearly twelve minutes and includes the controversial spoken "Oedipus section" that reportedly lost the group their residency at the Whisky-A-Go-Go. My own take on the famous "blue bus" line earlier in the song is that Morrison, being a military brat, was probably familiar with the blue shuttle buses used on military bases for a variety of purposes, including taking kids to school, and simply incorporated his experiences with them into his lyrics. The End got its greatest exposure in 1979, when Oliver Stone used it in his film Apocalypse Now.<br /><br />Artist: Peter, Paul And Mary<br />Title: Blowin' In The Wind<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Bob Dylan<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1963<br /> Just as knowing the chords for Van Morrison's Gloria was pretty much a prerequisite for being in a garage band, being able to play Bob Dylan's Blowing In The Wind was a must for anyone attempting to play folk music at a party in the mid-1960s. If there was more than one of you singing, you most likely used the Peter, Paul and Mary arrangement of the tune, with its three-part harmony. Their version was by far the most popular recording of the song, going all the way to the # 2 spot on the top 40 charts in the summer of '63.<br /> </p><p><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-25524365720032778502024-01-28T16:08:00.000-08:002024-01-28T16:08:02.806-08:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2405 (starts 1/29/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/514588 </p><p><br /> This week we manage to fit hard rock, soft rock, heavy metal, progressive rock and even a bit of R&B into the first set before getting down to a 1972 set that includes live tracks from Deep Purple and the Grateful Dead.<br /><br />Artist: Spirit<br />Title: Fresh Garbage<br />Source: European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Spirit)<br />Writer(s): Jay Ferguson<br />Label: Sony Music (original label: Ode)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Much of the material on the first Spirit album was composed by vocalist Jay Ferguson while the band was living in a big house in California's Topanga Canyon outside of Los Angeles. During their stay there was a garbage strike, which became the inspiration for the album's opening track, Fresh Garbage. The song starts off as a rather bouncy rock tune and suddenly breaks into a section that is pure jazz, showcasing the group's instrumental talents, before returning to the main theme to finish out the track.The group used a similar formula on about half the tracks on the LP, giving the album and the band a distinctive sound right out of the box. <br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Something<br />Source: CD: Abbey Road<br />Writer(s): George Harrison<br />Label: Apple/Parlophone<br />Year: 1969<br /> For years, the Beatles' George Harrison had felt that he was not getting the respect he deserved from his bandmates for his songwriting ability. That all changed in 1969 when he introduced them to his latest tune for inclusion on the Abbey Road album. Something impressed everyone who heard it, including John Lennon (who said it was the best song on the album), Paul McCartney (who called it Harrison's best song ever) and even producer George Martin, who made sure the song was released as the A side of the only single from Abbey Road. Commercially, Something was a major success as well, going to the top of the US charts and placing in the top 5 in the UK. Perhaps even more more telling is the fact that Something is the second most covered song in the entire Beatles catalog (behind Paul McCartney's Yesterday), with over 150 artists recording the tune since it first appeared.<br /><br />Artist: Black Sabbath<br />Title: Black Sabbath<br />Source: CD: Black Sabbath<br />Writer(s): Iommi/Osbourne/Butler/Ward<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1970<br /> This track has to hold some kind of record for "firsts". Black Sabbath, by Black Sabbath, from the album Black Sabbath is, after all, the first song from the first album by the first true heavy metal band. The track starts off by immediately setting the mood with the sound of church bells in a rainstorm leading into the song's famous tri-tone (often referred to as the "devil's chord") intro, deliberately constructed to evoke the mood of classic Hollywood horror movies. Ozzy Osborne's vocals only add to the effect. Even the faster-paced final portion of the song has a certain dissonance that had never been heard in rock music before, in part thanks to Black Sabbath's deliberate use of a lower pitch in their basic tuning. The result is something that has sometimes been compared to a bad acid trip, but is unquestionably the foundation of what came to be called heavy metal.<br /><br />Artist: Genesis<br />Title: The Musical Box<br />Source: CD: Nursery Cryme<br />Writer(s): Banks/Collins/Gabriel/Hackett/Rutherford<br />Label: Atlantic (original label: Charisma)<br />Year: 1971<br /> In a sense, the story of the rock band known as Genesis gets underway with the release of the 1971 album Nursery Cryme. Technically it was the third Genesis album. However, the first two albums, From Genesis To Revelation and Trespass, were not really rock albums at all. It was only after the departure of original guitarist Anthony Phillips and his replacement by Steve Hackett, along with the addition of drummer Phil Collins, that Genesis became a true electric rock band, albeit one with a heavy element of British folk music. Although Genesis sounded nothing like harder British progressive rock bands like Yes or Emerson, Lake and Palmer, their music was every bit as innovative and complex, as plainly can be heard on the ten minute long opening track from Nursery Cryme, The Musical Box. The lyrics of the song are based on a fairy tale by Peter Gabriel about two children in a country house, one of which (a girl) kills the other by beheading him with a croquet mallet. From there, it only gets weirder (and more adult). The Musical Box is considered one of Genesis' s most influential works, and has even inspired a group of young musicians to call themselves The Musical Box. <br /><br />Artist: Impressions<br />Title: Check Out Your Mind<br />Source: CD: Curtis Mayfield And The Impressions: The Anthology 1961-1977 (originally released on LP: Check Out Your Mind)<br />Writer(s): Curtis Mayfield<br />Label: MCA (original label: Curtom)<br />Year: 1970<br /> The Impressions scored their first hit single in 1958 with a song called For Your Precious Love. Not long after that lead vocalist Jerry Butler left the group for a solo career, and the Impressions faded off into obscurity. That would have been the end of the story if not for the efforts of 19-year-old Curtis Mayfield, who gathered the group together in 1961 to record their first single for the ABC Paramount label, a tune called Gypsy Woman. The song was a success, prompting several more singles for the label. By 1963 the group was pared down to the trio of Mayfield, Sam Gooden and Fred Cash. The group's style was truly established in August of that year with the song It's All Right, which went all the way to the top of the soul charts. An even bigger hit came the following year with the release of Amen, from the album Keep On Pushin'. The Impressions continued to be a presence on the R&B charts for the remainder of the decade, even after switching over to Mayfield's own Curtom label in 1968. The final Impressions album with Mayfield was Check Out Your Mind, released in 1970. By then Mayfield's songwriting had become highly topical, with virtually every song containing some sort of message. This trend continued after Mayfield left the Impressions for his solo career, notably on the soundtrack of the film Superfly. In August of 1990 a tragic stage accident left Mayfield permanently paralyzed from the neck down, ending his career as a performer.<br /><br />Artist: Ten Years After<br />Title: Hear Me Calling<br />Source: CD: Stonedhenge<br />Writer(s): Alvin Lee<br />Label: Deram<br />Year: 1969 <br /> Ten Years After's third album, Stonedhenge, was the band's first real attempt to take advantage of modern studio techniques to create something other than a facsimile of their live performances. Included on the album are short solo pieces, as well as half a dozen longer tracks featuring the entire band. One of the most popular of these full-band tracks is Hear Me Calling, which finishes out side one of the original LP. The song itself follows a simple blues structure, but is augmented by dynamic changes in volume as well as dizzying stereo effects. TYA would continue to develop their studio technique on their next LP, the classic Cricklewood Green.<br /><br />Artist: Moody Blues<br />Title: I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): John Lodge<br />Label: Threshold<br />Year: 1972<br /> Following the release of their eighth LP, Seventh Sojourn (don't ask), the Moody Blues decided to take a sojourn of a different kind: a five-year hiatus, allowing the individual members to pursue various solo projects. Before calling it quits, however, they released one last single. As the last track on Seventh Sojourn, I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band) was an appropriate choice for a final effort, and did reasonably well on the US charts, peaking at #12, although it barely made the top 40 in their native England. Since reforming in 1978, the Moody Blues have established themselves as a consistent concert draw, especially around PBS pledge drive time.<br /><br />Artist: Mickey Hart<br />Title: Blind John<br />Source: LP: Days Of Wine And Vinyl (originally released on LP: Rolling Thunder<br />Writer(s): Stetson/Monk<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1972<br /> After leaving the Grateful Dead in 1971 (temporarily, as it turned out), drummer Mickey Hart got to work on his first solo LP, Rolling Thunder. The list of supporting players on the album reads like a Who's Who of San Francisco musicians, including Grace Slick and Paul Kantner from Jefferson Airplane, Barry Melton from Country Joe And The Fish, Greg Errico from Sly & The Family Stone and David Freiberg from Quicksilver Messenger Service, not to mention the entire Tower Of Power horn section, all of whom can be heard on Blind John, the final track on side one of the LP.<br /><br />Artist: Grateful Dead<br />Title: Sugar Magnolia<br />Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)<br />Writer(s): Hunter/Weir<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1972<br /> One of the most popular songs in the Grateful Dead catalog, Sugar Magnolia also has the distinction of being the second-most performed song in the band's history, with 596 documented performances. The song, written by Robert Hunter and Bob Weir, first appeared on the 1970 album American Beauty, but was not released as a single. A live version two years later, however, did see a single release, charting in the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100.<br /><br />Artist: Grand Funk Railroad<br />Title: Rock 'N' Roll Soul<br />Source: 45 RPM single (promo)<br />Writer: Mark Farner<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1972<br /> By 1972 Grand Funk Railroad's performances were no longer all sellouts, and the band began to shift emphasis to their recorded work. Problems with Terry Knight's management practices were also becoming an issue, and their sixth studio LP, Phoenix, would be the last to be produced by Knight. Rock 'N' Roll Soul, a somewhat typical Mark Farner song, was the first and only single released from the album, and would have only minor success on the charts. The next record, We're An American Band, would signal a major change of direction for the band, with other members besides Farner taking a role in the songwriting and a much greater emphasis on hit singles than ever before. <br /><br />Artist: Deep Purple<br />Title: Highway Star (live version)<br />Source: CD: Made In Japan<br />Writer(s): Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1972<br /> Deep Purple's most successful album was Machine Head, which hit #7 on the Billboard album charts in 1972 and went all the way to the top in several countries, including the UK. The LP starts off with Highway Star, a song that was written on the band's tour bus as a demonstration of how the band created new material. It was first performed the same day it was written. The song is a hard rocker that features extended solos from both guitarist Richie Blackmore and organist Jon Lord. Both solos were inspired by the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The song became a concert staple and was often used as the show opener throughout the band's existence, as can be heard on the band's immensely popular 1972 live album Made In Japan.<br /><br />Artist: Lighthouse<br />Title: One Fine Morning<br />Source: Mono 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Skip Prokop<br />Label: Evolution<br />Year: 1971<br /> After being dropped by RCA Victor in 1970 after releasing three LPs, the Canadian band Lighthouse signed with GRT Records of Canada, also releasing their records in the US on the Evolution label, a subsidiary of Longines Symphonette. Their first album for their new label was One Fine Morning, with an edited version of the title track hitting the #2 spot on the Canadian charts and #24 in the US. Recorded in Toronto, the album was the first to feature new lead vocalist Bob McBride. <br /><br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-88466103226864776442024-01-21T04:43:00.000-08:002024-01-21T04:43:05.061-08:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2404 (starts 1/22/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/513659 </p><p> <br /> It's time for another Battle of the Bands on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era and this time around it's a big one. On one stage we have the Rolling Stones, circa 1967-68, while on the other we have the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with Band Of Gypsys serving as a warmup act. We're a little heavier than usual on the A sides in the first hour with regulars like the Yardbirds and the Doors being joined by lesser heard people such as, well, People. We also have a Blues Project set that includes vocalist Tommy Flanders' first single as a solo artist. Wrapping it all up is a truly psychedelic set from 1967.<br /><br />Artist: Five Americans<br />Title: I See The Light<br />Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Durrill/Ezell/Rabon<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)<br />Year: 1965<br /> For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Dallas address. It turns out, though, that the band was actually from Durant, Oklahoma, although by the time they had their biggest hit, Western Union, they were playing most of their gigs in the Lone Star state. I See The Light is an earlier single built around a repeating Farfisa organ riff that leads into a song that can only be described as in your face. The song was produced by the legendary Dale Hawkins, who wrote and recorded the original version of Suzy Q in the late 1950s. <br /><br />Artist: Electric Prunes<br />Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)<br />Source: CD: Psychedelic Pop (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Electric Prunes)<br />Writer(s): Tucker/Mantz<br />Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The Electric Prunes biggest hit was I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), released in late 1966 and hitting the charts in early 1967. The record, initially released without much promotion from the record label, was championed by Seattle DJ Pat O'Day of KJR radio, and was already popular in that area when it hit the national charts (thus explaining why so many people assumed the band was from Seattle). I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) has come to be one of the defining songs of the psychedelic era and was the opening track on both the original Lenny Kaye Nuggets compilation and Rhino's first Nuggets LP.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Within You Without You<br />Source: LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band<br />Writer(s): George Harrison<br />Label: Capitol/EMI<br />Year: 1967<br /> George Harrison began to take an interest in the Sitar as early as 1965. By 1966 he had become proficient enough on the Indian instrument to compose and record Love You To for the Revolver album. He followed that up with perhaps his most popular sitar-based track, Within You Without You, which opens side two of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Harrison would record one more similarly-styled song, The Inner Light, in 1968, before deciding that he was never going to be in the same league as Ravi Shankar, whom Harrison had become friends with by that time. For the remainder of his time with the Beatles Harrison would concentrate on his guitar work and songwriting skills, resulting in classic songs such as While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something and Here Comes The Sun.<br /><br />Artist: People<br />Title: I Love You<br />Source: Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Chris White<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)<br />Year: 1968<br /> By 1968 the major labels had signed just about every San Francisco band with any perceived potential. Capitol, having had some success with the Chocolate Watchband from San Jose on its Tower subsidiary, decided to sign another south bay band, People, to the parent label. The most successful single for the band was a new recording of an obscure Zombies B side. I Love You ended up hitting the top 20 nationally, despite the active efforts of two of the most powerful men in the music industry, who set out to squash the song as a way of punishing the record's producer for something having nothing to do with the song or the band itself.<br /><br />Artist: Small Faces<br />Title: The Autumn Stone<br />Source: British import 45 RPM single (originally released on LP: The Autumn Stone)<br />Writer(s): Steve Marriott<br />Label: Immediate<br />Year: 1969 (single mix: 2016)<br /> The Small Faces went into a recording studio together for the final time on September 11, 1968 to record two sides of a projected, but ultimately unreleased single. The A side, a Steve Marriott tune called The Autumn Stone, ended up being the title track of a double LP released a year later, after the group had officially disbanded. By this time Marriott had already formed Humble Pie (with Peter Frampton) while the remaining members of the Small Faces had regrouped with new members Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, shortening their name to Faces in the process.<br /><br />Artist: Chicago<br />Title: 25 Or 6 To 4<br />Source: CD: Chicago<br />Writer(s): Robert Lamm<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1970<br /> For their second LP, Chicago (which had just dropped the words "Transit Authority" from their name in response to a threatened lawsuit) tried out all three of their vocalists on each new song to hear who sounded the best for that particular song. In the case of Robert Lamm's 25 Or 6 To 4, bassist Peter Cetera did the honors. The song became a top 10 single both in the US and UK. Despite rumors to the contrary, Lamm says 25 Or 6 To 4 is not a drug song. Instead, he says, the title refers to the time of the morning that he was awake and writing the tune.<br /> <br />Artist: John Mayall And The Bluesbreakers<br />Title: I'm Your Witch Doctor<br />Source: Simulated stereo LP: British Archives-Volume 1 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): John Mayall<br />Label: RCA Victor (original label: Immediate)<br />Year: 1965<br /> Although John Mayall was under contract to British Decca, he somehow managed to sneak in a single on the Immediate label in 1965. I'm Your Witch Doctor was the only Mayall single produced by Jimmy Page, who had this to say about the song: "It was recorded at Pye Studios with jazzer Hughie Flint on drums, John McVie on bass, John Mayall on keyboards and vocals and Eric Clapton on guitar. It was recorded in June of 1965. When 'Witch Doctor' came to be overdubbed, Eric had this idea to put this feedback wail over the top. I was with him in the studio as he set this up, then I got back into the control room and told the engineer to record the overdub. About two thirds of the way through, he pulled the faders down and said: "This guitarist is impossible to record". I guess his technical ethics were compromised by the signal that was putting the meters into the red. I suggested that he got on with his job and leave that decision to me! Eric's solo on 'Telephone Blues' was just superb." Following the success of Cream, I'm Your Witch Doctor was reissued internationally in 1967 (1968 in the US) and included on an Immediate compilation album called Blues Anytime Vol.1 - An Anthology Of British Blues. That album was in turn reissued in the US under the title British Archives-Volume 1 on the RCA Victor label in 1970.<br /><br />Artist: Who<br />Title: See My Way<br />Source: Mono CD: A Quick One (album originally titled Happy Jack in the US)<br />Writer(s): Roger Daltry<br />Label: MCA (original label: Decca)<br />Year: 1966<br /> One of the original concepts for the Who's second LP, A Quick One (released in the US as Happy Jack), was to distribute the songwriting equally among the band's four members. That didn't quite work out as planned, however, as vocalist Roger Daltry only came up with one song, See My Way. It's probably just as well.<br /><br />Artist: Yardbirds<br />Title: For Your Love<br />Source: Mono CD: British Beat (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Graham Gouldman<br />Label: K-Tel (original label: Epic)<br />Year: 1965<br /> The last Yardbirds song to feature guitarist Eric Clapton, For Your Love was the group's first US hit, peaking in the #6 slot. The song did even better in the UK, peaking at #3. Following its release, Clapton left the Yardbirds, citing the band's move toward a more commercial sound and this song in particular as reasons for his departure (ironic when you consider songs like his mid-90s hit Change the World or his slowed down lounge lizard version of Layla). For Your Love was written by Graham Gouldman, who would end up as a member of Wayne Fontana's Mindbenders and later 10cc with Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.<br /><br />Artist: Turtles<br />Title: Grim Reaper Of Love<br />Source: Mono CD: All The Singles (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Portz/Nichol<br />Label: Manifesto (original label: White Whale)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The Turtles had some early success in 1965 as a folk-rock band, recording the hit version of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe and PF Sloan's Let Me Be. By 1966, however, it was getting harder and harder for the group to get a hit record. One attempt was Grim Reaper Of Love, co-written by the Turtles' lead guitarist Al Nichol and bassist Chuck Portz. Personally I think it's a pretty cool tune, but was probably a bit too weird to appeal to the average top 40 radio listener in 1966. Grim Reaper Of Love did manage to make it to the # 81 spot on the charts, unlike the band's next two singles that failed to chart at all. It wasn't until the following year, when the Turtles recorded Happy Together, that the band would make it back onto the charts.<br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: Light My Fire (speed corrected)<br />Source: LP: The Doors<br />Writer(s): The Doors<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1967<br /> The first Doors album was the only one to be released in both mono and stereo versions. Due to an error in the mastering process the stereo version was slowed down by about 3.5%, or about half a step in musical terms, lengthening the entire piece by about 15 seconds. As the mono version was deleted from the Elektra catalog soon after the album's release, the error went unnoticed for many years until a college professor contacted engineer Bruce Botnick and told him of the discrepancy. This week we have the stereo LP version played 3.5% faster than the normal 33 1/3 RPM. Sure enough, everything is pitch perfect (and times out to 6:49).<br /><br />Artist: Fleetwood Mac<br />Title: Albatross<br />Source: European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: English Rose<br />Writer(s): Peter Green<br />Label: Sony Music (original US label: Epic)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Albatross was the third single released by Fleetwood Mac. Released in November of 1968, it hit the #1 spot on the UK Single Chart in January of 1969. The song, which is said to have been inspired by a series of notes in an Eric Clapton guitar solo (but slowed down considerably) had been in the works for some time, but left unfinished until the addition of then 18-year-old guitarist Danny Kirwan to the band, who, unlike the band's second guitarist Jeremy Spencer, was more than willing to help bandleader Peter Green work out the final arrangement. Although Spencer was usually the group's resident slide guitarist (as is seen miming the part on a video clip), Kirwan actually played the slide guitar parts behind Green's lead guitar work, with Mick Fleetwood using mallets rather than drumsticks on the recording. John McVie, of course, played bass on the tune.<br /><br />Artist: Illinois Speed Press<br />Title: Hard Luck Story<br />Source: German import LP: Underground '70 (originally released on LP: Illinois Speed Press)<br />Writer(s): Kal David<br />Label: CBS (original US label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1969<br /> In 1967 someone coined the phrase "San Francisco sound" to describe the wave of bands coming out of the Bay Area that year, despite the fact that there really was no specific San Francisco sound. The following year, someone at M-G-M Records (which had missed out entirely on the whole San Francisco thing, with the exception of the Eric Burdon And The Animals single San Franciscan Nights) decided to sign a bunch of Boston bands and market them as the "Boss-Town Sound." This campaign went over like a lead balloon, actually hurting the chances of the bands to make a name for themselves. Undeterred, Columbia Records tried the same thing in Chicago in 1969, signing the Chicago Transit Authority, the Flock, Aorta and Illinois Speed Press and marketing them as the "Chicago Sound". Producer James William Guercio, who had previously worked with the Buckinghams and Blood, Sweat & Tears, was brought in to produce the first Illinois Speed Press album, which included the song Hard Luck Story, a somewhat atypical piece of blues-rock written by Kal David, who along with Paul Cotton formed the core of the band. David and Cotton soon wearied of being lumped in with other Chicago bands, and relocated to California, essentially becoming a duo in the process and helping pioneer the country-rock sound that would emerge from Southern California in the mid-1970s. Cotton later assumed a leadership role with the southern California country-rock band Poco.<br /><br />Artist: Grand Funk Railroad<br />Title: Aimless Lady<br />Source: CD: Closer To Home<br />Writer(s): Mark Farner<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1970<br /> Despite being universally panned by the rock press, Grand Funk Railroad managed to achieve gold record status three times in the year 1970. The first two of these were actually released the previous year, but it was the massive success of their third LP, Closer To Home, that spurred sales of the band's albums overall. All of the songs on Closer To Home were written and sung by guitarist Mark Farner, including Aimless Lady, probably the best example on the album of a "typical" Grand Funk Railroad song.<br /><br />Artist: Move<br />Title: Message From The Country<br />Source: LP: Message From The Country<br />Writer(s): Jeff Lynne<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1971<br /> The Move was one of those bands that was extremely popular in its native UK without having any success whatsoever in the US. Although primarily a singles band, they did manage to release four albums over a period of years, the last of which was Message From The Country. Even as the album was being recorded, several members, including Jeff Lynne, were already working on the first album by the Move's successor, the Electric Light Orchestra. A conscious effort was made, however, to keep the two projects separate, with the Move album getting the more psychedelic material (such as the title track), while ELO took a more prog-rock approach. <br /><br />Artist: David Crosby<br />Title: Willie Jean<br />Source: LP: Early L.A <br />Writer(s): Jimmy Drew<br />Label: Together<br />Year: Recorded 1963, released 1970<br /> Although his first official solo release was the album If I Could Only Remember My Name in 1971, David Crosby had actually recorded a pair of solo demos around 1963, both of which ended up appearing on an album called Early L.A. on the Together label, a joint venture of producers Gary Usher, Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen, in 1970. Both songs were covers, including Willie Jean, which was spelled Willie Gene on the album cover and attributed to Hoyt Axton. In reality the song, which was often thought to be a traditional tune in the public domain, was first released by Jimmy Drew in 1961 (Axton's version was recorded in 1963).<br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix/Band Of Gypsys<br />Title: Power Of Soul<br />Source: Stereo 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: Legacy<br />Year: Recorded 1970, released 2013<br /> 1969 was a strange year for Jimi Hendrix. For one thing, he did not release any new recordings that year, yet he remained the top money maker in rock music. One reason for the lack of new material was an ongoing dispute with Capitol Records over a contract he had signed in 1965 as a session player. By the end of the year an agreement was reached for Hendrix to provide Capitol with one album's worth of new material. At this point Hendrix had not released any live albums, so it was decided to tape his New Year's performances at the Fillmore East with his new Band Of Gypsys (with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox), playing songs that had never been released in studio form. As it turns out, however, studio versions of many of the songs on that album did indeed exist, but were not issued until after Hendrix's death, when producer Alan Douglas put out a pair of LPs (Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning), that had some of the original drum and bass tracks (and even some guitar tracks) re-recorded by musicians that had never actually worked with Hendrix. One of those songs is Power Of Soul, which has finally been released in its original Band Of Gypsys studio version, recorded just a couple of weeks after the Fillmore East gig with background vocals provided by Cox and Miles. <br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Miss Amanda Jones<br />Source: LP: Between The Buttons<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: London<br />Year: 1967<br /> The only thing I have to say about Miss Amanda Jones is that it is one of my favorite tracks on the 1967 Rolling Stones album Between The Buttons. Come to think of it, that kind of says it all anyway.<br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: Red House<br />Source: CD: Are You Experienced? (originally released on LP: Smash Hits)<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: Recorded 1966, released 1969<br /> There were actually two different versions of Red House released by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, both of which came from the same December, 1966, sessions. The original version was included on the European pressing of the Are You Experienced album, which was issued in early 1967. The album was not originally available in stereo, and a true stereo mix of this version of Red House was never made, as the track was left off the remixed American version of the LP. In spring of 1967 the band attempted to get a better version of the song, but neither Hendrix or bassist Noel Redding (who had played the original bass part on a regular guitar with its tone controls set to mimic a bass guitar) were satisfied with the later versions. Only one portion of these new recordings was kept, and was combined with the original take to create a new stereo mix for the US version of the 1969 Smash Hits album. This newer mix was also used by MCA for both the 1993 CD reissue of Are You Experienced and the Ultimate Experience anthology. <br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Sympathy For The Devil<br />Source: CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released on LP: Beggars Banquet)<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: Abkco (original label: London)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Beggar's Banquet was a turning point for the Rolling Stones. They had just ended their association with Andrew Loog Oldham, who had produced all of their mid-60s records, and instead were working with Jimmy Miller, who was known for his association with Steve Winwood, both in his current band Traffic and the earlier Spencer Davis Group. Right from the opening bongo beats of Sympathy For The Devil, it was evident that this was the beginning of a new era for the bad boys of rock and roll. The song itself has gone on to be one of the defining tunes of album rock radio, and occupies the #32 spot on Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. <br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: The Wind Cries Mary<br />Source: CD: Are You Experienced?<br />Writer: Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1967<br /> The US version of Are You Experienced was significantly different than its UK counterpart. For one thing, the original UK album was only available in mono. For the US version, engineers at Reprise Records, working from the original multi-track masters, created all new stereo mixes of about two-thirds of the album, along with all three of the singles that the Jimi Hendrix Experience had released in the UK. The third of these singles was The Wind Cries Mary, which had hit the British charts in February of 1967. <br /> <br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Who's Been Sleeping Here<br />Source: LP: Between The Buttons<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: London<br />Year: 1967<br /> Between The Buttons, released in early 1967, shows the Rolling Stones beginning to experiment with a more psychedelic sound than on previous albums. Brian Jones, in particular, took up several new instruments, including the sitar, heard prominently on the track Who's Been Sleeping Here. The next LP, Their Satanic Majesties Request, would take the group even further into psychedelic territory, prompting a back to basics approach the following year.<br /><br />Artist: Blues Project<br />Title: I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes<br />Source: LP: Live At Town Hall<br />Writer(s): Blind Willie Johnson<br />Label: Verve Forecast<br />Year: 1967<br /> Sometime in mid-1967 a new Blues Project LP was released. The album was titled Live At Town Hall, despite the fact that only half of the tracks on the album were in fact recorded live, and only one of those was actually recorded at Howard K. Solomon's Town Hall. To add insult to injury, the liner notes heavily emphasized the talents of keyboardist/vocalist Al Kooper, who had in fact quit the group shortly before the album was released, reportedly over musical differences with guitarist Danny Kalb over whether or not the band should add a horn section. Although I have not been able to determine exactly which track was recorded where, it seems likely that the album's opening recording, an energetic performance of I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes featuring some of Kalb's best guitar work, is the Town Hall performance, as it is a notably higher fidelity recording than the album's other live tracks.<br /><br />Artist: Blues Project<br />Title: Steve's Song<br />Source: CD: The Blues Project Anthology (originally released on LP: Projections)<br />Writer(s): Steve Katz<br />Label: Polydor/Chronicles (original label: Verve Folkways)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The members of the Blues Project came from a variety of backgrounds, including jazz, rock, classical and of course, blues. Guitarist Steve Katz had the strongest connection to the Greenwich Village folk scene and was the lead vocalist on the Project's recording of Donovan's Catch The Wind on their first LP. For their second album Katz wrote his own song, entitled simply Steve's Song. The tune starts with a very old-English style repeated motif that gets increasing complicated as it repeats itself before segueing into a more conventional mode with Katz on the lead vocal. Katz would write and sing similarly-styled tunes, such as Sometimes In Winter, during his tenure as guitarist for Blood, Sweat and Tears.<br /><br />Artist: Tommy Flanders<br />Title: Friday Night City<br />Source: Mono CD: The Blues Project Anthology (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Tommy Flanders<br />Label: Polydor/Chronicles (original label: Verve Forecast)<br />Year: 1967<br /> When the Blues Project was first signed to M-G-M Records, the label saw them as America's answer to the Rolling Stones. They had pretty good reasons for seeing things that way too. The band had one of Greenwich Village's rising stars, Danny Kalb, on guitar, the already well-known Al Kooper, who had played on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisted album on organ, and the charismatic Tommy Flanders on lead vocals. The label was so high on the band, in fact, that they flew them out to L.A. and set them up in the Hilton for a big release party. It was then that things got weird. Flanders's girlfriend, who had accompanied the band to the West Coast, got it in her head that Flanders was the star of the band and was as such deserved special treatment. This did not sit well with the rest of the band members, and an argument ensued, culminating in the girlfriend announcing that her Tommy didn't need any of those guys and would stay in Hollywood to become a star in his own right. The Blues Project continued without Flanders and went on to become one of the most influential bands in rock history (albeit without a lot of commercial success). Flanders, on the other hand, recorded an album's worth of material (produced by Wilson), but only Friday Night City was actually released, and even then it was held back until 1967, by which time audience tastes had changed signficantly and the song went nowhere. Flanders did have a short solo career in the early 1970s, but never achieved the level of success his girlfriend had imagined for him (or even the level of success the rest of the Blues Project had without him, for that matter).<br /><br />Artist: Vanilla Fudge<br />Title: Take Me For A Little While<br />Source: M45 RPM single B side (reissue)<br />Writer(s): Trade Martin<br />Label: Atlantic (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1967<br /> The original single version of Vanilla Fudge's cover of the Holland-Dozier-Holland penned Supremes hit You Keep Me Hangin' On was yet another cover of a tune written by a man but originally sung by female artists. Take Me For A Little While, written by Trade Martin, was first released in 1965, with two versions, one by Evie Sands and the other by Jackie Ross, coming out at about the same time. The Vanilla Fudge version of Take Me For A Little While was chose to be the B side of You Keep Me Hangin' On when it was first released as a single (that flopped) in 1967, but was replaced with a non-LP B side written by band member Mark Stein for the 1968 reissue (that was a big hit).<br /><br />Artist: Jake Holmes<br />Title: Dazed And Confused<br />Source: LP: Nuggets vol. 10-Folk Rock (originally released on LP: The Above Ground Sound Of Jake Holmes)<br />Writer(s): Jake Holmes<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1967<br /> On Auguest 5th, 1967 a little known singer/songwriter named Jake Holmes opened for the Yardbirds for a gig in New York City, performing songs from his debut LP The Above Ground Sound Of Jake Holmes, including a rather creepy sounding tune called Dazed And Confused. Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty, who was in the audience for Holmes's set, went out and bought a copy of the album the next day. Soon after that the Yardbirds began performing their own modified version of Dazed And Confused. Tower Records, perhaps looking to take advantage of the Yardbirds popularization of the tune, released Holmes's version of Dazed And Confused as a single in January of 1968. Meanwhile, the Yardbirds split up, with guitarist Jimmy Page forming a new band called Led Zeppelin. One of the songs Led Zeppelin included on their 1969 debut LP was yet another new arrangement of Dazed And Confused, with new lyrics provided by Page and singer Robert Plant. This version was credited entirely to Page. Holmes himself, not being a fan of British blues-rock, was not aware of any of this at first, and then let things slide until 2010, when he finally filed a copyright infringement lawsuit. The matter was ultimately settled out of court, and all copies of the first Led Zeppelin album made from 2014 on include "inspired by Jake Holmes" in the credits.<br /><br />Artist: Country Joe And The Fish<br />Title: Bass Strings<br />Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body<br />Writer(s): Joe McDonald<br />Label: Vanguard<br />Year: 1967<br /> A lot of songs released in 1966 and 1967 got labeled as drug songs by influential people in the music industry. In many cases, those labels were inaccurate, at least according to the artists who recorded those songs. On the other hand, you have songs like Bass Strings by Country Joe and the Fish that really can't be about anything else. Then again, it was never going to be played on top 40 radio anyway.<br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-61062471147019845472024-01-21T04:31:00.000-08:002024-01-21T04:31:51.023-08:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2404 (starts 1/22/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/513658 </p><p><br /> We're digging pretty deep this time around, with only one certified hit single in the entire hour...and that's the very last song of the week. Everything else is an album track, ranging from the familiar (Neil Young's Cowgirl In The Sand) to the truly obscure (a demo by a group called T2 that remained unreleased until 2013), with lots of good stuff in between, including four tunes making their Rockin' in the Days of Confusion debut.<br /><br />Artist: Ten Years After<br />Title: I Woke Up This Morning<br />Source: LP: Ssssh<br />Writer: Alvin Lee<br />Label: Deram<br />Year: 1969<br /> Latecomers to the British blues scene, Ten Years After were in fact the original retro-rockers, taking their cues from the classic rock and roll artists of the 50s as much as from the rhythm and blues artists of the era. Alvin Lee's songwriting, especially in the band's early days, reflected both these influences, with slow bluesy numbers like I Woke Up This Morning co-existing with high-energy rockers like I'm Going Home. <br /><br />Artist: Atomic Rooster<br />Title: The Rock<br />Source: Russian import CD: In Hearing Of (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Vincent Crane<br />Label: Castle (original US label: Elektra)<br />Year: 1971<br /> Atomic Rooster began as a fairly typical British progressive rock band, but by their third LP, In Hearing Of, were starting to move into new territority as a progressive jazz/rock/funk fusion band. Between the second and third albums the group released a single called Devil's Answer that made it into the top 5 in the UK (but did not chart in the US) that was not included on In Hearing Of. Its B side, however, The Rock, is a good example of the band's future sound, and would be included on the album as well.<br /><br />Artist: Neil Young/Crazy Horse<br />Title: Cowgirl In The Sand<br />Source: CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere<br />Writer: Neil Young<br />Label: Reprise<br />Year: 1969<br /> It has been said that adverse conditions are conducive to good art. Certainly that truism applies to Neil Young's Cowgirl In The Sand, written while Young was running a 102 degree fever. Almost makes me wish I could be that sick sometime.<br /><br />Artist: James Gang<br />Title: Mystery<br />Source: CD: Bang<br />Writer(s): Bolin/Cook<br />Label: Atco<br />Year: 1973<br /> It seems like every James Gang album (excepting the first one) ends with a long, grandiose track, complete with strings. For the 1973 album Bang, guitarist Tommy Bolin came up with Mystery, a song very much in the same vein as Joe Walsh's Ashes The Rain And I. Roy Kenner, who had joined the band in 1972, provides lead vocals on the track.<br /><br />Artist: Fleetwood Mac<br />Title: The Green Manolishi (With The Two Prong Crown)<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Peter Green<br />Label: Reprise<br />Year: 1970<br /> Peter Green's final recording with Fleetwood Mac was an LSD-inspired non-LP single called The Green Manolishi (With The Two Prong Crown). Released in 1970, it was the last single by the band to make the UK top 10 until Tusk was released nearly 10 years later. According the Green, the song was written following a dream in which he was visited by a green dog that barked at him from the afterlife. "It scared me because I knew the dog had been dead a long time. It was a stray and I was looking after it. But I was dead and had to fight to get back into my body, which I eventually did. When I woke up, the room was really black and I found myself writing the song." Although it took an entire all-night session to get the sound Green wanted, he later called making the record one of his favorite times with the band.<br /><br />Artist: T2<br />Title: Careful Sam<br />Source: Mono British import CD: Love, Poetry And Revolution<br />Writer(s): Peter Dunton<br />Label: Grapefruit<br />Year: Recorded 1970, released 2013<br /> T2, consisting of drummer Peter Dunton, bassist Bernie Jinks and guitarist Keith Cross, released only one album, It'll All Work Out In Boomland, in 1970. The album did not get much support from their label (British Decca) and plans for a second LP were scrapped before any new material got beyond the demo stage. One of those demo tapes, however, finally surfaced on a CD set called Love, Poetry And Revolution on the Grapefruit label in 2013. Written by Dunton, the track has some outstanding guitar work from Cross.<br /><br />Artist: Cheech & Chong<br />Title: The Strawberry Revival Festival/Don't Bug Me<br />Source: CD: Los Cochinos<br />Writer(s): Marin/Chong<br />Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Ode)<br />Year: 1973<br /> Much of Cheech & Chong's humor was derived from the interaction between characters created by Cheech Marin and Thomas Chong. Not all of these characters had names, however. The Strawberry Revival Festival, for instance, is simply a conversation between two roommates in a house occupied by several other people that can be heard in the background throughout the piece. The only named person is Strawberry, who is not even part of the conversation (and is apparently passed out on the floor). The piece segues directly into the short Don't Bug Me, which is more of a punchline-oriented bit (hey, I'm trying not to give anything away, OK?).<br /><br />Artist: ZZ Top<br />Title: Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers<br />Source: LP: Tres Hombres<br />Writer(s): Gibbons/Hill/Beard<br />Label: Warner Brothers (original label: London)<br />Year: 1973<br /> The second single released from ZZ Top's 1973 breakthough album, Tres Hombres, could well qualify as a Texas state anthem, although a majority of the state's politicians no doubt would never allow that to happen. The title says it all: Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers.<br /><br />Artist: Blues Image<br />Title: Love Is The Answer<br />Source: CD: Open<br />Writer(s): Blues Image<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1970<br /> Blues Image started off in Tampa, Florida, but soon relocated to Miami, where they soon became the house band for the legendary club Thee Image. They moved out to Los Angeles in 1969, where they developed a following that included several prominent musicians, including guitarist Jimi Hendrix. It was Hendrix that pointed out to the band that they did great arrangements on other people's material but that their own tunes were lacking a certain flair. The solution, it turned out, was to set their own compositions aside for a time, then revist them, treating them the same way they would someone else's songs. Apparently it worked, as can be heard on songs like Love Is The Answer, the powerful opening track for their second LP, Open.<br /><br />Artist: Graham Nash<br />Title: Better Days<br />Source: LP: Songs For Beginners<br />Writer(s): Graham Nash<br />Label: Atlantic<br />Year: 1971<br /> After the worldwide success of the 1970 LP Déjà Vu, the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young all got the opportunity to record solo albums. Graham Nash's was called Songs For Beginners, and it was filled with highly personal songs like Better Days, which was reportedly written for Stephen Stills after Rita Coolidge left him (for Nash himself, as it turns out). Coolidge provides backup vocals on the song, which features Neil Young on piano (Nash plays organ).<br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Wild Horses<br />Source: CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: Abkco (original label: Rolling Stones)<br />Year: 1971<br /> Although it was recorded in 1969, the release of Wild Horses was held up for over a year because of ongoing litigation between the Rolling Stones, who were in the process of forming their own record label, and Allen Klein, who had managed to legally steal the rights to all of the band's recordings for the British Decca label (most of which had appeared in the US on the London label). Eventually both Wild Horses and Brown Sugar (recorded at the same sessions) became the joint property of the Rolling Stones and Klein and were released as singles on the new Rolling Stones label in 1971.<br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-6408092830181128332024-01-14T07:32:00.000-08:002024-01-14T07:32:51.861-08:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2403 (starts 1/15/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/512764 </p><p><br /> This week's edition of Stuck in the Psychedelic Era features several extended tracks. Some of these are actually medleys of tunes that all run together as if they were a single track, while others are long, mostly instrumental pieces featuring outstanding guitar work. One of the latter is part of our only artist's set this week which, unusually, starts the entire show.<br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: Foxy Lady (live in studio)<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: Legacy<br />Year: Recorded 1967, released 2018<br /> In November of 1967 the Jimi Hendrix Experience was still very much an underground phenomenon in the US. Their June appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival had introduced the band to an audience that numbered in the thousands, and their records were being played heavily on college radio, but for the most part mainstream America was still unaware of them. In Europe, however, it was an entirely different story. Jimi Hendrix was the hottest thing on the London scene by the time 1967 started; it wasn't long before the word spread to the continent about the outrageously talented guitarist with an equally outrageous stage presence. Most of that year was spent touring Europe, including stops at various TV and radio studios in several countries. One of these was in the Netherlands, where the Experience performed Foxy Lady live in the studio in November of 1967. The recording of this performance has surfaced as the non-album B side of the Lover Man single released (in limited quantity) for Record Store Day 2018. <br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience (II)<br />Title: Hear My Train A Comin'<br />Source: CD: Blues (originally released on LP: Rainbow Bridge)<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: MCA/Experience Hendrix (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: Recorded 1970, released 1971<br /> Jimi Hendrix first came up with the song known as Hear My Train A Comin' (although he usually introduced it as Get My Heart Back Together) in 1967, but was never able to get a studio version of the tune recorded to his satisfaction. Nonetheless, he did play the song live on several occasions, including at Woodstock. What is generally agreed to be the definitive version of the song was recorded on May 30, 1970 at the Berkeley Community Theatre, with bassist Billy Cox and drummer Mitch Mitchell, a trio billed as the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The recording of that performance was first released on the Rainbow Bridge album in 1971, and later included on the 1994 compilation album Blues.<br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix/Band Of Gypsys<br />Title: Lover Man<br />Source: Stereo 45 RPM single <br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: Experience Hendrix/Legacy<br />Year: Recorded 1969, released 2018<br /> When the Jimi Hendrix Experience made their US debut at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967 they opened with a high-energy workup of the Muddy Waters classic Killing Floor. Hendrix' arrangement of the song was so radically different from the original that Hendrix eventually decided to write new lyrics for the song, calling it Lover Man. Several attempts were made to get the song recorded in the studio, including this one recorded on December 15, 1969 with bassist Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles. Two weeks later they recorded a series of performances at New York's Madison Square Garden that were used for the 1970 album Band Of Gypsys, although Lover Man was not among the songs selected for the LP.<br /><br />Artist: Paul Revere & The Raiders<br />Title: 1001 Arabian Nights<br />Source: LP: The Spirit Of '67<br />Writer(s): Lindsay/Melcher<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1966<br /> The longest track on The Spirit Of '67, the sixth studio album by Paul Revere & The Raiders, is also the most unusual. In fact, it doesn't sound like Paul Revere & The Raiders at all. In fact, 1001 Arabian Nights may well be the most psychedelic recording ever made by the group, or at the very least the most experimental. It was also one of the last Raiders tracks not to use studio musicians.<br /><br />Artist: Buffalo Springfield<br />Title: Everybody's Wrong<br />Source: Mono CD: Buffalo Springfield<br />Writer: Stephen Stills<br />Label: Atco/Elektra<br />Year: 1966<br /> Buffalo Springfield is one of those rare cases of a band that actually sold more records after disbanding than while they were still an active group. This is due mostly to the fact that several members, including Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Richie Furay and Jim Messina, went on to greater success in the 1970s, either with new bands or as solo artists. In the early days of Buffalo Springfield Stephen Stills was the group's most successful songwriter. The band's only major hit, For What It's Worth, was a Stills composition that was originally released shortly after the group's debut LP, and was subsequently added to later pressings of the album. Another, earlier, Stills composition from that first album was Everybody's Wrong, a somewhat heavy piece of folk-rock.<br /><br />Artist: Love<br />Title: And More<br />Source: CD: Comes In Colours (originally released on LP: Love)<br />Writer(s): Arthur Lee<br />Label: Raven (original label: Elektra)<br />Year: 1966<br />Artist: Love<br /> Although the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was already recording for Elektra, the first genuine rock band to be signed to the label was L.A.'s Love. The band had originally called itself the Grass Roots, but soon discovered that the songwriting team of Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan had already locked up the name (some versions of the story hold that Barri stole the name in retaliation for being slighted by the group's guitarist, Johnny Echols). Jan Holzman, owner of Elektra, was so high on Love that he created a whole new numbering series for their first album (the same series that later included the first few Doors LPs). Most of Love's songs were written by multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Arthur Lee, with a handful of tunes provided by rhythm guitarist/vocalist Bryan MacLean. The two seldom collaborated, despite sharing a house in the Hollywood hills that had once belonged to Bela Lugosi. One of the few songs they did work together on was And More, a tune from the first album that shows the two songwriters' interest in folk-rock as popularized by fellow L.A. band the Byrds.<br /><br />Artist: Donovan<br />Title: Universal Soldier<br />Source: CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released in UK as 45 RPM EP and in US as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Buffy Sainte-Marie<br />Label: Rhino (original labels: UK: Pye, US: Hickory)<br />Year: 1965<br /> Before Sunshine Superman became a huge hit in the US, Scottish folk singer Donovan Leitch was making a name for himself in the UK as the "British Dylan." One of his most popular early tunes was Universal Soldier, an antiwar piece that was originally released in the UK on a four-song EP. The EP charted well, but Hickory Records, which had the US rights to Donovan's records, was reluctant to release the song in a format (EP) that had long since run its course in the US and was, by 1965, only used by off-brand labels to crank out soundalike hits performed by anonymous studio musicians. Eventually Hickory decided to release Universal Soldier as a single, but the record failed to make the US charts.<br /><br />Artist: Bob Dylan<br />Title: 4th Time Around<br />Source: Austrian import CD: Blonde On Blonde<br />Writer(s): Bob Dylan<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1966<br /> It's often been speculated that Bob Dylan felt that John Lennon had ripped off his style for the 1965 song Norwegian Wood, and that he wrote 4th Time Around specifically to admonish Lennon for it (artistically speaking). Then again, that could simply be a case of rock critics, needing something to write about, coming up their own interpretation of things. Regardless of origins or intentions, the song was included on what many feel to be Dylan's finest album, Blonde On Blonde, which was released in 1966. Still, the song's closing line "I never asked for your crutch, now don't ask for mine" is a bit cryptic, isn't it?<br /><br />Artist: Traffic<br />Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy<br />Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Heaven Is In Your Mind)<br />Writer(s): Capaldi/Winwood/Wood<br />Label: United Artists<br />Year: 1967<br /> Steve Winwood is one of those artists that has multiple signature songs, having a career that has spanned decades (so far). Still, if there is any one song that is most closely associated with the guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist, it's the title track of Traffic's Mr. Fantasy album.<br /><br />Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company<br />Title: Piece Of My Heart<br />Source: LP: Cheap Thrills<br />Writer: Ragovoy/Burns<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1968<br /> By 1968 Big Brother and the Holding Company, with their charismatic vocalist from Texas, Janis Joplin, had become as popular as fellow San Francisco bands Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. Somehow, though, they were still without a major label record deal. That all changed with the release of Cheap Thrills, with cover art by the legendary underground comix artist R. Crumb. The album itself was a curious mixture of live performances and studio tracks, the latter being led by the band's powerful cover of the 1966 Barbara Lynn tune Piece Of My Heart. The song propelled the band, and Joplin, to stardom. That stardom would be short-lived for most of the band members, however, as well-meaning but ultimately wrong-headed advice-givers convinced Joplin that Big Brother was holding her back. The reality was that Joplin was far more integrated with Big Brother And The Holding Company than anyone she would ever work with again.<br /><br />Artist: Chicago<br />Title: Poem 58<br />Source: CD: The Chicago Transit Authority<br />Writer(s): Robert Lamm<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1969<br /> Poem 58, from the 1969 double-LP The Chicago Transit Authority, is actually two pieces in one. The first is essentially a long jam session built around an R&B guitar riff and featuring some outstanding solo work from guitarist Terry Kath. About halfway through this morphs into a different kind of R&B tune, done in a call and response style and featuring the band's horn section prominently. An edit of Poem 58 was also released as the B side of the band's second single, Beginnings. <br /><br />Artist: Daily Flash<br />Title: Jack Of Diamonds<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Lalor/MacAllistor/Kelihor/Hastings<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Parrot)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The practice of writing new lyrics to an old tune got turned around for the Seattle-based Daily Flash's feedback-drenched recording of Jack Of Diamonds, which pretty much preserves the lyrics to the old folk song, but is musically pure garage-rock, which is itself an anamoly, since the Daily Flash is generally known for NOT being a garage-rock band. Instead they are considered a forerunner of such San Francisco bands as Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service.<br /><br />Artist: Sensational Country Blues Wonders<br />Title: Music Of The Spheres<br />Source: CD: The Adventures Of A Psychedelic Cowboy<br />Writer(s): Gary Van Miert<br />Label: self-published<br />Year: 2021<br /> Right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic I received a CD in the mail from on Gary Van Miert, who records as the Sensational Country Blues Wonders. Miert specializes in American Roots Music, including early 20th century blues, 40s and 50s gospel and 50s and 60s country. The CD he sent me adds a touch of 60s psychedelia into the mix, with the appropriate title of The Adventures Of A Psychedelic Cowboy. The lyrics of Music Of The Spheres in particular are in a decidedly psychedelic vein.<br /><br />Artist: Ace Of Cups<br />Title: Medley<br />Source: CD: Ace Of Cups<br />Writer(s): Hollingsworth/Kaufman/Vitalich/Mercy<br />Label: High Moon<br />Year: 2018<br /> Medley is the longest track on the 2018 Ace Of Cups album. It is also the track that features the most guest musicians. According to Mary Gannon, who founded the band in 1966, "the lyrics and harmonies, the sitar, the guitars, the different colors and textures in this peice reflect our '60s journey." Medley starts with The Hermit, which started as a poem written the band's first manager, Ambrose Hollingsworth, with music by Denise Kaufman, who provides lead vocals on the song. When Hollingsworth was sidelined by an accident that left him in a wheelchair, Ace Of Cups soon hooked up with the same manager as Quicksilver Messenger Service, often opening for them and appearing (as the Angel Chorus) on The Fool, a track on the first Quicksilver album in 1968. Quicksilver's David Freiberg returns the favor on The Hermit, providing harmony vocals and "one man choir". The Hermit segues into a short instrumental called The Flame Still Burns, which serves as a showcase for the stylish drum work of Diane Vitalich, supplemented by a lead guitar solo from Terry Haggerty of the Sons Of Champlin. A sitar intro by Norman Mayell leds into Gold And Green, a piece that features Mary Simpson (Mercy) on lead vocals and all guitar parts, and includes some tasty vibraphone work from Geoffrey Palmer. Medley wraps up with another Mercy piece, Living In The Country, which features Vitalich on lead vocals.<br /><br />Artist: Stranglers<br />Title: Vietnamerica<br />Source: British import 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): The Stranglers<br />Label: Liberty<br />Year: 1981<br /> The Stranglers have always been difficult to pigeonhole, which may ultimately account for their longevity. Originally formed in 1974 as the Guildford Stranglers, the band soon became one of the first groups to be identified with Britain's punk-rock movement of the mid-1970s. They soon began to experiment with other musical styles, however, and ended up outlasting most of their contemporaries. By the early 1980s, punk-rock was waning in popularity, and the shirts at EMI hooked them up with producer Tony Visconti in an attempt at coming up with a more commercially viable sound. The result was La Folie, released in November of 1981. The lead single from the album was a song called Let Me Introduce You To The Family. The non-LP B side was Vietnamerica, a moody piece that reflects the influence on the Stranglers of 60s psychedelic bands like the Music Machine and the Doors.<br /><br />Artist: Santana<br />Title: Shades Of Time/Savor/Jingo<br />Source: LP: Santana<br />Writer(s): Santana/Rolie/Areas/Brown/Carabello/Shrieve/Olatunji <br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1969<br /> Santana started out as a jam band, but after taking on Bill Graham as manager began to work out more structured pieces. Both of these elements can be heard on their first self-titled LP, released in 1969. Shades Of Time is one of the more structured tunes, written by guitarist Carlos Santana and keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Rolie, which leads into the instrumental Savor, credited to the entire band. This is turn leads into Jingo, a song written by Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji and featured on his first album Drums of Passion in 1959. <br /><br />Artist: Iron Butterfly<br />Title: Filled With Fear<br />Source: LP: Ball<br />Writer(s): Doug Ingle<br />Label: Atco<br />Year: 1969<br /> After the delayed success of their second LP, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Iron Butterfly went back to the studio to record their follow-up album, Ball. Although Ball did not have a monster hit on it, it is generally considered a better album overall, with a depth and breadth of songwriting not found on their previous efforts. One of the most memorable tracks on the album is Filled With Fear, a song about paranoia with music that complements the lyrics perfectly.<br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Monkey Man<br />Source: LP: Let It Bleed<br />Writer(s): Jagger/Richards<br />Label: London<br />Year: 1969<br /> Ever have a song get stuck in your head for days at a time? Monkey Man, from the Rolling Stones' 1969 LP Let It Bleed, is that kind of song. Admit it: now you've got Mick screaming "I'm A Monkey" running through your brain.<br /><br />Artist: Nice<br />Title: America<br />Source: LP: Autumn To Spring (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Bernstein/Sondheim<br />Label: Charisma (original label: Immediate)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Sometime in 1969 I went to see a band called Marshall Hammond (named for their amps and organ, apparently) at the roller rink on Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany. None of us caught the name of the opening act, but I remember this version of this song in particular being performed by them. Were they the Nice? I kind of doubt it, but there's always the possibility, I suppose.<br /><br />Artist: Spirit<br />Title: Girl In Your Eye<br />Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: Spirit)<br />Writer(s): Jay Ferguson<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Ode)<br />Year: 1968 <br /> Spirit was born in 1965 when drummer Ed Cassidy left the Rising Sons after breaking his arm and settled down with his new wife, who had a teenaged son named Randy. It wasn't long before Ed and Randy (who played guitar) formed a new band called the Red Roosters. The group lasted until the spring of 1966, when the family moved to New York for a few months. During that stay Randy became a member of a band called Jimmy James and his Blue Flames, but when the band's leader, a young guitarist who would soon become known as Jimi Hendrix, got an offer to relocate to London, Randy's parents refused to allow their son to accompany him. After returning to California, Randy ran into two of his Red Roosters bandmates, singer Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes, and decided to form a new band with Cassidy and keyboardist John Locke. Both Cassidy and Locke had played in jazz bands, and the new band, Spirit, incorporated both rock and jazz elements into their sound. Most of the songs of the band's 1968 debut album were written by Ferguson, who tended to favor a softer sound on tracks like Girl In Your Eye. On later albums Randy California would take a greater share in the songwriting, eventually becoming the only original member to stay with the band throughout its history.<br /><br />Artist: Barry Goldberg Reunion<br />Title: Hole In My Pocket<br />Source: LP: Buddah 360°<br />Writer(s): Danny Whitten<br />Label: Buddah<br />Year: 1968<br /> The name Barry Goldberg may not be a household name, but his resume is impressive. His first recording session as a keyboardist was with Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels on this hit single Devil With A Blue Dress On. He's played on albums by Leonard Cohen, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Ramones and many others, including a couple of tracks on the legendary Super Session album. In 1967 he co-founded the Electric Flag with Mike Bloomfield and Buddy Miles. Sometime in 1968 he found time to record an album called There's No Hole in My Soul for the Buddah label.Although Goldberg is himself an accomplished songwriter, he chose to release a song by Danny Whitten (who would go on to be a member of Crazy Horse) called Hole In My Pocket as a single from the album.<br /><br />Artist: Pretty Things<br />Title: Talkin' About The Good Times<br />Source: Mono British import CD: Psychedelia At Abbey Road (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): May/Taylor/Waller<br />Label: EMI (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Although the Pretty Things, co-founded by guitarist Dick Taylor and vocalist Phil May, had started off doing R&B cover tunes (as did their London contemporaries the Who and the Rolling Stones), by late 1967 they had moved into psychedelic territory, with Taylor and May developing their songwriting skills at the same time. Working with producer Norman Smith (who had just finished engineering Pink Floyd's debut LP), the band recorded a pair of sides for EMI's flagship Columbia label at Abbey Road studios in November. The resulting single, Talkin' About The Good Times, was successful enough to give the band the opportunity to record an entire album, the legendary S.F. Sorrow.<br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-29186452613348135932024-01-14T07:22:00.000-08:002024-01-14T07:22:13.756-08:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2403 (starts 1/15/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/512763 </p><p><br /> It's another slow progression through the years this week on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion, as we travel from 1968 to 1974 and then head back down until we run out of time.<br /><br />Artist: Spirit<br />Title: Fresh Garbage<br />Source: CD: Spirit<br />Writer(s): Jay Ferguson<br />Label: Ode/Epic/Legacy <br />Year: 1968<br /> Much of the material on the first Spirit album was composed by vocalist Jay Ferguson while the band was living in a big house in California's Topanga Canyon outside of Los Angeles. During their stay there was a garbage strike, which became the inspiration for the album's opening track, Fresh Garbage. The song starts off as a bouncy rocker with a strong hook and suddenly breaks into a section that is pure jazz, showcasing the group's instrumental talents, before returning to the main theme to finish out the track.The group used a similar formula on about half the tracks on the LP, giving the album and the band a distinctive sound right out of the box.<br /><br />Artist: Jethro Tull<br />Title: Beggar's Farm<br />Source: CD: This Was<br />Writer(s): Ian Anderson<br />Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Parallels can be drawn between the early recordings of Jethro Tull and the American band Spirit. Both showed jazz influences that would be less prominent on later albums, but that helped both bands stand out from the pack on their respective debut LPs. An example of this can be heard on the track Beggar's Farm, an Ian Anderson tune from the first Jethro Tull album This Was.<br /><br />Artist: Rod Stewart<br />Title: Man Of Constant Sorrow<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): Trad., arr. Rod Stewart<br />Label: Mercury<br />Year: 1969<br /> Rod Stewart's debut solo album was not a major seller when it was first released in 1969, despite generally favorable reviews from the rock press. One of the stronger tracks on the album was his arrangement of the old folk song Man Of Constant Sorrow. The track was also issued as the B side of the album's second single three years after the LP itself had been released. <br /><br />Artist: Ten Years After<br />Title: Sugar The Road<br />Source: LP: Cricklewood Green<br />Writer(s): Alvin Lee<br />Label: Deram<br />Year: 1970<br /> Ten Years After's fourth LP, Cricklewood Green, was the band's first release following their appearance at Woodstock, and by all accounts they made the best of the situation with what is generally considered to be their best studio album. In addition to progressive FM radio favorites Love Like A Man and 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain, the album contains several tunes that show the group's diversity, such as the LP's opening track, Sugar The Road.<br /><br />Artist: Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen<br />Title: Back To Tennessee<br />Source: LP: Lost In The Ozone<br />Writer(s): Farlow/Frayne<br />Label: Paramount<br />Year: 1971<br /> You would expect an album that starts with the country rocker Back To Tennessee and gets even more country after that to be the work of a bunch of good ol' Southern boys. And yet lead vocalist and keyboardist George Frayne was actually from Boise, Idaho. His chief collaborator and writer of most of the band's original material, Billy C. Farlowe, on the other hand, hailed from Decatur, Alabama. The rest of the band's membership came from all over the place, including guitarists John Tichy (St. Louis) and Bill Kirchen (Bridgeport, Connecticut, saxophonist/fiddler Andy Stein (New York City), bassist "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow (Oxnard, California), drummer Lance Dickerson (Livonia, Michigan) and pedal steel guitarist and Steve "The West Virginia Creeper" Davis, from Charleston, West Virginia. The band, taking its name from early 1950s black and white film serials, was formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1967 and spend several years playing local bars before migrating to Berkeley, California, where they soon got a contract with the newly-formed Paramount Records. Their debut LP, Lost In The Ozone, included their best known song, a cover of Charlie Ryan's 1955 hit Hot Rod Lincoln, along with other fan favorites like Seeds and Stems (Again) and the aforemention title track. After three more albums for Paramount, they switched labels to Warner Brothers, where they remained until the group disbanded in 1976.<br /><br />Artist: Grateful Dead<br />Title: One More Saturday Night<br />Source: CD: Skeletons From The Closet (originally released on LP: Europe '72)<br />Writer: Bob Weir<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1972<br /> In 1972 Warner Brothers gave all of the members of the Grateful Dead the opportunity to record solo albums. Three of the Dead, Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart and Bob Weir, took them up on the offer. The Weir album was called Ace, and, unlike the other two albums, featured virtually the entire Grateful Dead lineup (the sole exception being Ron "Pigpen" McKernan). Most of the songs on Ace became staples of the Dead's live performances. A live version of one of those songs, One More Saturday Night, was included on the band's second live album, Europe '72, and that performance was included on the group's first anthology album, Skeletons From The Closet. <br /><br />Artist: Eagles<br />Title: Certain Kind Of Fool/Doolin-Dalton/Outlaw Man<br />Source: LP: Desperado<br />Writer(s): Meisner/Henley/Frey/Souther/Browne/Blue<br />Label: Asylum<br />Year: 1973<br /> The original Eagles lineup of Glenn Frey (guitars, vocals), Don Henley (drums, vocals), Bernie Leadon (guitars, vocals), and Randy Meisner (bass guitar, vocals) only recorded two albums before adding guitarist Don Felder to the band. The second of those was Desperado. Released in 1973, Desperado was a concept album drawing parallels between Wild West gunfighters and 70s rock musicians. The idea came out of a jam session featuring Frey, Henley, Jackson Browne and JD Souther that resulted in the creation of Doolin-Dalton, a piece that keeps popping up in parts throughout the album. The song was based on an outlaw gang based in the Oklahoma Territory in the late 1800s. From there, Henley and Frey came up with the album's title track, while other members such as Meisner (along with Frey and Henley) contributed songs like Certain Kind Of Fool. The only song on Desperado not penned by band members was Outlaw Man, which was written by Eagles' label mate David Blue and was released as the second single from the album (with Certain Kind Of Fool on the B side).<br /><br />Artist: Jeff Beck<br />Title: You Know What I Mean/She's A Woman<br />Source: CD: Blow By Blow<br />Writer(s): Beck/Middleton/Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Epic<br />Year: 1975<br /> After dissolving the group Beck, Bogert and Appice in 1973, guitarist Jeff Beck spent the next year supporting various other musicians both on stage and in the studio before going to work on what would become his most commercially successful solo album, Blow By Blow. Produced by George Martin, the all-instrumental album opens with You Know What I Mean, a tune written by Beck and keyboardist Max Middleton, and segues into a rather unique cover version of Paul McCartney's She's A Woman, a hit for the Beatles in early 1965. <br /><br />Artist: Who<br />Title: Naked Eye<br />Source: British import CD (Spirit Of Joy) (originally released on LP: Odds And Sods)<br />Writer(s): Pete Townshend<br />Label: Polydor (original US label: Decca)<br />Year: 1974<br /> While touring to promote the Tommy album, the Who began developing several new songs as part of their live act. Many of these appeared, at least in part, on the Live At Leeds album in 1970. One of those songs, Naked Eye, was partially recorded in the studio around the same time, but remained unfinished when the 1971 album Who's Next was released. Over the next couple of years several bootlegs of the Who's live performances were in circulation, prompting bassist John Entwhistle to compile a new album of outtakes and unreleased tracks in 1974. The album Odds And Sods, included the completed version of Naked Eye. <br /><br />Artist: Deep Purple<br />Title: Place In Line<br />Source: Japanese import CD: Who Do We Think We Are<br />Writer(s): Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice<br />Label: Warner Brothers<br />Year: 1973<br /> The final album from the second, and most popular Deep Purple lineup was 1973's Who Do We Think We Are. The album title was a direct response to critics that had voiced the opinion that the band was getting a bit too big for their britches. Despite internal problems that would lead to the departure of vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover shortly after the album's completion, Who Do We Think We Are was one of the band's most popular albums. Although Deep Purple was not usually considered a blues-rock band, the song Place In Line certainly fits in with other examples of the genre, starting off with a plodding Muddy Waters kind of beat, then transitioning to a faster boogie for the remainder of the piece. <br /><br />Artist: Elton John<br />Title: Honky Cat<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): John/Taupin<br />Label: Uni<br />Year: 1972<br /> Elton John hit the top of the US charts with his fifth LP, Honky Chateau, in 1972. It was the first of seven consecutive #1 albums for the singer/songwriter and included two major hit singles. The second of these was the album's opening track, Honky Cat, which made the top 10 that same year, despite having a length of over five minutes at a time when most radio stations still observed the three and a half minute standard for top 40 singles. <br /><br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-75720025758915621982024-01-07T03:26:00.000-08:002024-01-07T03:26:39.845-08:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2402 (starts 1/8/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/511827 </p><p><br /> Every so often the question comes up "why don't the Moody Blues get played more often on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era"? It's a legitimate question with a legitimate answer. The main reason is that, with the exception of the rather non-psychedelic first album by the Moodys (the one with Go Now), nearly their entire catalog consists of album sides that run continuously. Even their various compilation albums either use cross-fades from one to the next or use newer recordings of their most popular songs. Add to that the fact that their singles have been out of circulation for decades and were unfortunately pressed using cheap materials, making finding playable copies prohibitively expensive. However, once in a while it's time to bite the bullet and play an entire album side of a Moody Blues record. This is one of those times, so get ready to enjoy the second side of the 1971 LP Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, along with 26 other tunes by 26 other artists, starting with another British band.<br /><br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: We Love You<br />Source: 45 RPM single (stereo reissue)<br />Writer: Jagger/Richards<br />Label: London<br />Year: 1967<br /> We Love You was, upon its release in the summer of 1967, the most expensive Rolling Stones record ever produced (as well as the last Rolling Stones record to be produced by Andrew Loog Oldham), and included a promotional film that is considered a forerunner of the modern music video. We Love You did well in the UK, reaching the # 8 spot on the charts, but it was the other side of the record, Dandelion, that ended up being a hit in the US. The song was dismissed at the time by John Lennon, who referred to it as the Stones' answer to All We Need Is Love, but in retrospect the song is now seen as a tongue-in-cheek response to the ongoing harassment of the band by law enforcement authorities at the time.<br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience<br />Title: Ain't No Tellin'<br />Source: CD: Axis: Bold As Love <br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Possibly the closest thing to a traditional R&B style song in JImi Hendrix's repertoire, Ain't No Tellin' was also, at one minute and 47 seconds, one of the shortest tracks ever recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The tune appeared on the Axis: Bold As Love album in 1967. <br /><br />Artist: Seeds<br />Title: A Thousand Shadows<br />Source: LP: Future<br />Writer(s): Saxon/Hooper/Savage<br />Label: GNP Crescendo<br />Year: 1967<br /> After Pushin' Too Hard cracked the national charts nearly two years after its initial release, the Seeds went into the studio to record their third LP, Future. Unlike their first two albums, Future contains more than a few experimental tracks. There are, however, a few tunes that sound a lot like their earlier stuff, including A Thousand Shadows, which opens the album's second side. In the case of A Thousand Shadows, which opens the album's second side, this is probably because three of the band members, vocalist Sky Saxon, keyboardist Daryl Hooper and guitarist Jan Savage, co-wrote the song, making it pretty much a band composition (drummer Rick Andridge being the only member not involved with any of the band's songwriting). A Thousand Shadows was the lead single from the album, but unlike Pushin' Too Hard it only made it into the lower reaches of the Hot 100 nationally, peaking at #72.<br /><br />Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals<br />Title: Monterey<br />Source: CD: Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/McCulloch/Jenkins<br />Label: Polydor (original label: M-G-M)<br />Year: 1968<br /> After the original Animals broke up in late 1966, lead vocalist Eric Burdon recorded a solo album, Eric Is Here, using mostly studio musicians, but credited officially to Eric Burdon And The Animals. He then set about organizing a new Animals band that included drummer Barry Jenkins (who had been a member of the original band and had played on Eric Is Here), guitarist/violinist John Weider, guitarist/pianist Vic Briggs and bassist Danny McCulloch. One of the first appearances of the New Animals on stage was at the Monterey International Pop Festival. The experience (pun intended) so impressed the group that they wrote a song about it. The song was issued both as a single and on the LP: The Twain Shall Meet. The single used a mono mix; the LP version, while in stereo, was overlapped at both the beginning and end by adjoining tracks, and was missing the first few seconds of the single version. The version used here was created by splicing the mono intro onto the stereo main portion of the song, fading it a bit early to avoid the overlap from the LP. This process (called making a "cut down") was first done by a company called Drake-Chenault, which supplied tapes to radio stations using the most pristine stereo versions of songs available. Whether Polydor used the Drake-Chenault version or did the cut down itself, the version is the same. <br /> <br />Artist: Beach Boys<br />Title: She Knows Me Too Well<br />Source: CD: Good Vibrations-Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys (originally released on LP: The Beach Boys Today!)<br />Writer(s): Wilson/Love<br />Label: Capitol<br />Year: 1965<br /> Despite the fact that the Beach Boys had finally scored their first #1 hit, I Get Around, during the peak months of Beatlemania, songwriter Brian Wilson sensed that it was time to move on from writing songs about surfing and hot cars. The band's first 1965 album, The Beach Boys Today, was Wilson's first attempt to do that, with songs like She Knows Me Too Well. Unfortunately, the LP did not sell as well as previous Beach Boys albums, and under pressure from their label, Capitol Records, the group returned to an earlier style for the next LP, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). <br /><br />Artist: Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band<br />Title: Diddy Wah Diddy<br />Source: Mono CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): McDaniel/Dixon<br />Label: Rhino (original label: A&M)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Don Van Vliet and Frank Zappa knew each other in high school in the Antelope Valley area of Los Angeles, but did not stay in close contact after graduation. While Zappa was developing an interest in early 20th century avant-garde classical music, Van Vliet established a reputation as one of the best white blues singers around. When the opportunity came to record a few tracks for A&M records in 1965, Van Vliet, who by then was calling himself Captain Beefheart, chose a Bo Diddly tune, Diddy Wah Diddy, to showcase his vocal talents. The song was a local hit in Los Angeles, but A&M, for reasons unknown, did not retain the Captain on their roster of artists. Beefheart would record for several more labels over the years, with his greatest success being the album Trout Mask Replica, which was released on Zappa's own Straight Records label in 1969.<br /><br />Artist: Canned Heat<br />Title: Dust My Broom<br />Source: CD: The Very Best Of Canned Heat (originally released on CD box set: The Monterey International Pop Festival)<br />Writer: Johnson/James<br />Label: Capitol (original label: Rhino)<br />Year: Recorded 1967, released 1992<br /> Canned Heat's first single was released on June 9, 1967. Eight days later they were the opening act on day two of the Monterey International Pop Festival. A month after that their first album was released. At the time, Canned Heat's repertoire was made up entirely of covers of blues classics such as Dust My Broom, done as true to the original versions as the members of the band could make them. Dust My Broom was originally recorded in the 1930s by Robert Johnson, then electrified by Elmore James in a 1951 recording. Accordingly, both artists are now given songwriting credit.<br /><br />Artist: World Column<br />Title: Lantern Gospel<br />Source: Mono British import CD: My Mind Goes High (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Kaplan/Meyer<br />Label: Warner Strategic Marketing (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1968<br /> World Column was actually an R&B band from the midwest that, for some unknown reason, decided to change styles and record a song which has since become a psychedelic classic. Lantern Gospel, released in the summer of 1968, appeared on a dozen bootleg compilation albums before finally being officially released on the Rhino Handmade CD My Mind Goes High, which is now available in the UK through Warner Strategic Marketing.<br /><br />Artist: Blues Project<br />Title: Steve's Song<br />Source: Mono CD: Projections<br />Writer(s): Steve Katz<br />Label: Sundazed (original label: Verve Folkways)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The members of the Blues Project came from a variety of backgrounds, including jazz, rock, classical and of course, blues. Guitarist Steve Katz had the strongest connection to the Greenwich Village folk scene and was the lead vocalist on the Project's recording of Donovan's Catch The Wind on their first LP. For their second album Katz wrote his own song, entitled simply Steve's Song. The tune starts with a very old-English style repeated motif that gets increasing complicated as it repeats itself before segueing into a more conventional mode with Katz on the lead vocal. Katz would write and sing similarly-styled tunes, such as Sometimes In Winter, during his tenure as guitarist for Blood, Sweat and Tears.<br /><br />Artist: Byrds<br />Title: My Back Pages<br />Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday<br />Writer(s): Bob Dylan<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1967<br /> One of the items of contention between David Crosby and Roger McGuinn was the latter's insistence on continuing to record covers of Bob Dylan songs when the band members themselves had a wealth of their own material available. Indeed, it was reportedly an argument over whether or not to include Crosby's Triad on the next album that resulted in Crosby being fired from the band in October of 1967 (although other factors certainly played into it as well). Nonetheless, the last Dylan cover with Crosby still in the band was perhaps their best as well. Although not as big a hit as Mr. Tambourine Man, My Back Pages from the Younger Than Yesterday album did respectably well on the charts, becoming one of the Byrds' last top 40 hits.<br /> <br />Artist: Steppenwolf<br />Title: Magic Carpet Ride<br />Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: Steppenwolf The Second)<br />Writer(s): Moreve/Kay<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Steppenwolf's second top 10 single was Magic Carpet Ride, a song that combines feedback, prominent organ work by Goldy McJohn and an updated Bo Diddly beat with psychedelic lyrics. Along with Born To Be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride (co-written by vocalist John Kay and bassist Rushton Moreve) has become one of the defining songs of both Steppenwolf and the psychedelic era itself.<br /><br />Artist: Cat Mother And The All Night Newsboys<br />Title: Probably Won't<br />Source: LP: The Street Giveth…and the Street Taketh Away<br />Writer(s): Robert Smith<br />Label: Polydor<br />Year: 1968<br /> 1968 saw Jimi Hendrix getting more into the production end of the recording process, not only with his own band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but with a band from the US east coast known as Cat Mother And The All Night Newsboys. Although the band is best known for Good Old Rock And Roll, a tribute to late 50s rock pioneers, Cat Mother's music was actually rooted more in the folk and blues revival movement of the mid-60s centered in New York's Greenwich Village, as heard on tracks such as Probably Won't, a rather sardonic song from their Hendrix co-produced debut LP The Street Giveth…and the Street Taketh Away.<br /> <br />Artist: Cream<br />Title: Crossroads<br />Source: Wheels Of Fire<br />Writer(s): Robert Johnson<br />Label: RSO (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Robert Johnson's Crossroads has come to be regarded as a signature song for Eric Clapton, who's live version (recorded at the Fillmore East) was first released on the Cream album Wheels Of Fire. <br /><br />Artist: Caleb<br />Title: A Woman Of Distinction<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in the UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Caleb Quayle<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Philips)<br />Year: 1967<br /> A studio effect known as phasing, created by playing two identical recordings slightly out of synchronization with each other, was all the rage in England in 1967. Jimi Hendrix used it effectively on the title track of his second album, Axis: Bold As Love, which in turn inspired bands like the Small Faces (Itchycoo Park) and Status Quo (Pictures Of Matchstick Men). Perhaps the most excessive use of phasing, however, was on a single by Caleb Quayle, who is perhaps better known as the guitarist on several Elton John albums. The phasing on the A side, Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad, is so pervasive that the song is often referred to as Baby Your Phasing Is Bad. The effect is every bit as pervasive on the single's B side, A Woman Of Distinction.<br /><br />Artist: Love<br />Title: My Little Red Book<br />Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released on LP: Love)<br />Writer(s): Bacharach/David<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The first rock record ever released by Elektra Records was a single by Love called My Little Red Book. The track itself (which also opens Love's debut LP), is a punked out version of a tune originally recorded by Manfred Mann for the What's New Pussycat movie soundtrack. Needless to say, Love's version was not exactly what composers Burt Bacharach and Hal David had in mind when they wrote the song.<br /><br />Artist: Gerry And The Pacemakers<br />Title: It's Gonna Be Alright<br />Source: LP: Ferry Across The Mersey<br />Writer(s): Gerry Marsden<br />Label: Laurie<br />Year: 1964<br /> The Beatles are, of course, the most popular band to emerge from the Liverpool music scene. But who was second? The answer is Gerry And The Pacemakers, who became the first (and for 20 years only) artist to score consecutive #1 hits on the British charts with their first three releases. Formed in 1959 by Gerry Marsdon, his brother Fred, Les Chadwick, and Arthur McMahon, the band was originally known as Gerry Marsdon and the Mars Bars, but had to change their name when the candy company objected. They were the second band to sign with Brian Epstein, and released their first single, How Do You Do It, in 1963. In 1964, Marsden began writing most of the band's material, including It's Gonna Be Alright, which was released in September of 1964 in the UK as a single and then as the title track of an EP around Christmastime. The song was released in the US the following June, becoming their seventh US top 40 hit.<br /><br />Artist: Moody Blues<br />Title: Every Good Boy Deserves Favor-side two<br />Source: LP: Every Good Boy Deserves Favor<br />Writer(s): Lodge/Thomas/Hayward/Pinder<br />Label: Threshold<br />Year: 1971<br /> The Moody Blues are probably the first rock band to become known for doing nothing but concept albums, starting with the 1967 LP Days Of Future Past. Their 1971 album, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, is no exception, as each song on the LP leads directly into the next track. The second side of the LP consists of four songs, each one written by a different member of the group (a tactic that Pink Floyd was exploring at around the same time). The first of these is One More Time To Live, written by John Lodge. This is followed by Nice To Be Here, a Ray Thomas composition, and You Can Never Go Home, a tune from the pen of Justin Hayward. The album ends with My Song, written by Mike Pinder. Each song on the album is sung by the member that wrote the tune; despite this, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor maintains a consistency of sound throughout.<br /> <br />Artist: Bob Dylan<br />Title: Mr. Tambourine Man<br />Source: CD: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Bringing It All Back Home)<br />Writer(s): Bob Dylan<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1964<br /> As hard as it may be to believe now, Mr. Tambourine Man, as recorded by Bob Dylan in 1964, was not a hit record. It took the Byrds electrifying of the song in 1965 to take it to the top of the charts. By then, Dylan himself was using electric instruments on his records, although not to update his older material. Nonetheless, the original five and a half minute version of the song from the album Bringing It All Back Home is considered one of Dylan's most iconic recordings.<br /><br />Artist: Lovin' Spoonful<br />Title: Nashville Cats<br />Source: LP: Homer (soundtrack) (originally released on LP: Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful)<br />Writer(s): John B. Sebastian<br />Label: Cotillion (original label: Kama Sutra)<br />Year: 1966<br /> In late 1966, with two best-selling albums to their credit, The Lovin' Spoonful deliberately set out to make an album that sounded like it was recorded by several different bands, as a way of showcasing their versatility. With Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful, they did just that. Songs on the album ranged from the folky Darlin' Be Home Soon to the rockin' psychedelic classic Summer In The City, with a liberal dose of what would eventually come to be called country rock. The best example of the latter was Nashville Cats, a song that surprisingly went into the top 40 (but did not receive any airplay from country stations) and was (even more suprisingly) often heard on FM rock radio in the early 70s.<br /><br />Artist: Circus Maximus<br />Title: People's Games<br />Source: CD: Circus Maximus<br />Writer(s): Jerry Jeff Walker<br />Label: Vanguard<br />Year: 1967<br /> Although People's Games is far from my favorite Circus Maximus song, it is, according to at least one member of the band, the tune that was most representative of what the band was all about. It is also one of the earliest compositions of Circus Maximus member Jerry Jeff Walker, who went on to greater fame as a songwriter, particularly for the song Mr. Bojangles.<br /><br />Artist: Them<br />Title: Waltz Of The Flies<br />Source: British import CD: Time Out! Time In For Them<br />Writer(s): Tom Lane<br />Label: Rev-Ola (original US label: Tower)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Once you get past the facts that 1) this a band best known as the starting place of a singer (Van Morrison) who was no longer with the group by the time this album was recorded, and 2) this album came out on Tower Records, the audio equilivant of AIP movie studios, you can appreciate the fact that Time Out! Time In! For Them is actually a pretty decent album, as can be heard on tunes like Waltz Of The Flies.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: Don't Let Me Down<br />Source: CD: Past Masters-vol. 2 (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Apple/Parlophone<br />Year: 1969<br /> One can get a good feel for the Beatles story simply by looking at the films they made. Their first, A Hard Day's Night, was a black and white movie that captured the group at a time that they had the world eating out of their collective hands. Their next film, Help!, was a bit more sophisticated, being both in color and in possession of an actual plot, albeit it a rather silly one. After some short promotional films that were a bit more experimental in nature (Strawberry Fields Forever, for example), they made a telefilm called Magical Mystery Tour in 1967. It was the band's first commercial failure. Their final project was another feature-length movie, but rather than a romp through fictional settings it was meant to be a documentary about the band's recording process. The film ended up documenting something else entirely: a band on the verge of a rather acrimonious breakup. Despite the internal conflicts, the group managed to record some strong tracks such as Don't Let Me Down, which was released as the B side of their first single of 1969, Get Back (both of which included Billy Preston on keyboards). Alternate versions of both songs were included on the final official Beatles album, Let It Be, the following year.<br /><br />Artist: Kevin Ayers And The Whole World<br />Title: Clarence In Wonderland<br />Source: British import CD: Acid Daze (originally released on LP: Shooting At The Moon)<br />Writer(s): Kevin Ayers<br />Label: Uncut (original label: Harvest)<br />Year: 1970<br /> According to rock journalist Nick Kent, who specialized in the British underground music scene, "Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett were the two most important people in British pop music. Everything that came after came from them." Of course everyone knows that Syd Barrett was the founder of Pink Floyd, but Kevin Ayers, despite having a longer and more productive career, is nowhere near as well known. Ayers was a founding member of the Soft Machine, the band most associated with the "Canterbury Scene" in the late 1960s, but left the group after an exhausting US tour with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, selling his bass guitar to Noel Redding. Ayers spent most of the next year composing new material that appeared on his solo debut LP, Joy Of A Toy in November of 1969. He assembled a band that he christened The Whole World to promote the album that included a young Mike Oldfield on bass and occasionally lead guitar, avant-garde composer David Bedford on keyboards and improvising saxophonist, Lol Coxhill, among others. He took The Whole World into the studio to record his next LP, Shooting At The Moon. The album included somewhat whimsical tunes such as Clarence In Wonderland, interspersed with more avant-garde pieces. Ayers would release more than a dozen more albums before his death in 2013.<br /><br />Artist: SRC<br />Title: Up All Night<br />Source: Mono import CD: Ah Feel Like Ahcid (originally released as 45 RPM single B side and on LP: Milestones)<br />Writer(s): Clawson/Richardson/Quackenbush/Lyman/Quackenbush<br />Label: Zonophone UK (original US label: Capitol)<br />Year: 1969<br /> Stylistic and regional contemporaries of bands such as the MC5 and the Amboy Dukes, SRC were formed in 1965 as the Tremelos, soon changing their name to the Fugitives and releasing four singles and an album on various local Detroit labels. They released their first records under the name SRC in 1967, a pair of singles for the A[squared] label, which led to a contract with Capitol that resulted in one album per year from 1968-70. The most successful of these was the 1969 LP Milestones, which included the single Turn Into Love and its B side, Up All Night. After being dropped from the Capitol roster the group continued on for a couple more years, releasing a final single under the name Blue Scepter for Rare Earth Records in 1972.<br /><br />Artist: Boston Tea Party<br />Title: I'm Tellin' You<br />Source: LP: The Boston Tea Party<br />Writer(s): Stevens/Fields<br />Label: Flick Disk<br />Year: 1968<br /> Despite having a distribution deal with major label M-G-M, Flick-Disk only released three LPs and a pair of 45s, all in 1968. The first of these was from a Burbank, California psychedelic band incongruously named the Boston Tea Party. The band had released three singles for three different labels the previous year, with their LP's opening track, I'm Telling You, becoming the B side of their fourth and final release.<br /><br />Artist: Spencer Davis Group<br />Title: Waltz For Lumumba<br />Source: Mono British import CD: The Best Of The Spencer Davis Group featuring Steve Winwood<br />Writer(s): Steve Winwood<br />Label: Island <br />Year: Recorded 1967, released 2001<br /> As near as I can tell Waltz For Lumumba is a studio jam session recorded shortly before Steve and Muff Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group in 1967. The song appeared for the first time on an album released that year in the UK called The Best Of The Spencer Davis Group featuring Steve Winwood. It's first US release was in 2001, as a bonus track on the Sundazed CD reissue of the I'm A Man album.<br /><br />Artist: First Edition<br />Title: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)<br />Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released on LP: The First Edition and as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Mickey Newbury<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1968<br /> 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.<br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-92107068661905625492024-01-07T03:15:00.000-08:002024-01-07T03:27:07.707-08:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2402 (starts 1/8/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/511826 </p><p><br /> Actually, Rockin' in the Days of Confusion is ALWAYS free. But since this week's opening track is called Introduction (plus the fact that nearly every track on the show has been heard on previous editions of Rockin' in the Days of Confusion), we figured we'd just call it Free Introductory Offer anyway.<br /><br />Artist: Chicago<br />Title: Introduction<br />Source: CD: The Chicago Transit Authority<br />Writer(s): Terry Kath<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1969<br /> When living in Germany in 1969 I bought a copy of an album called Underground in a local record store. The album itself was on purple vinyl that glowed under a black light and featured a variety of artists that had recently released albums in the US on the Columbia label (since the name Columbia was trademarked by EMI in Europe and the UK, US albums from the American Columbia label were released on the CBS label instead). The opening track of the album was appropriately called Introduction and was also the opening track of the first Chicago (Transit Authority) album. Written by guitarist Terry Kath, the piece effectively showcases the strengths of the band, both as an extremely tight ensemble and as individual soloists, with no one member dominating the song. <br /><br />Artist: Al Kooper/Mike Bloomfield/Harvey Brooks/Eddie Hoh<br />Title: Really<br />Source: LP: Super Session<br />Writer: Bloomfield/Kooper<br />Label: Columbia/Sundazed<br />Year: 1968<br /> Al Kooper and Michael Bloomfield first met when they were both members of Bob Dylan's band in 1965, playing on the classic Highway 61 Revisited album and famously performing at the Newport Folk Festival, where Kooper's organ was physically assaulted by angry folk purists. After a stint with seminal jam band The Blues Project, Kooper became a staff producer for Columbia Records in New York, where he came up with the idea of an album made up entirely of studio jams. He recruited Bloomfield, who had in the intervening years played with the Butterfield Blues Band and the Electric Flag, along with bassist Harvey Brooks (also from Butterfield's band) and studio drummer Eddie Hoh and came up with the surprise hit album of 1968, Super Session. Although Bloomfield bowed out of the project halfway through, he plays on all the tracks on side one of the album, including Really, which utilizes a classic blues progression. <br /><br />Title: Down By The River<br />Source: CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere<br />Writer(s): Neil Young<br />Label: Reprise<br />Year: 1969<br /> Down By The River is one of four songs on the album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere that Neil Young wrote while running a fever of 103 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 39.5 degrees for people in civilized nations that use the Celsius, aka centrigrade, scale). By some strange coincidence, they are the four best songs on the album. I wish I could have been that sick in my days as a wannabe rock star.<br /><br />Artist: Graham Nash<br />Title: Prison Song<br />Source: 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Graham Nash<br />Label: Atlantic<br />Year: 1973<br /> Graham Nash's Prison Song is one of those songs that by all rights should have been a huge hit. It was by a name artist. It had a catchy opening harmonica riff and a haunting melody. I can only surmise that once again Bill Gavin (whose Gavin Report was considered by many in the industry to be the top 40 "bible") decided that the lyrics were too subversive for AM radio and had the song blacklisted, much as he had done with the Byrds Eight Miles High a few years earlier. Those lyrics center on a subject that is unfortunately still relevant today: the utter absurdity of drug laws and the disproportionate sentences for violation of those laws in various part of the United States.<br /><br />Artist: Led Zeppelin<br />Title: Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You<br />Source: CD: Led Zeppelin<br />Writer(s): Bredon/Page/Plant<br />Label: Atlantic<br />Year: 1968<br /> It is the nature of folk music that a song often gets credited to one writer when in fact it is the work of another. This is due to the fact that folk singers tend to share their material liberally with other folk singers, who often make significant changes to the work before passing it along to others. Such is the case with Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You, which was originally conceived by UC-Berkeley student Anne Johannsen in the late 1950s and performed live on KPFA radio in 1960. Another performer on the same show, Janet Smith, developed the song further and performed it at Oberlin College, where it was heard by audience member Joan Baez. Baez asked Smith for a tape of her songs and began performing the song herself. Baez used it as the opening track on her album, Joan Baez In Concert, Part One, but it was credited as "traditional", presumably because Baez herself had no knowledge of who had actually written the song. Baez eventually discovered the true origins of the tune, and later pressings gave credit to Anne Bredon, who had divorced her first husband, Lee Johannsen and married Glen Bredon since writing the song. Jimmy Page had an early pressing of the Baez album, so when he reworked the song for inclusion on the first Led Zeppelin album, he went with "traditional, arranged Page" as the writer. Robert Plant, who worked with Page on the arrangement, was not originally given credit for contractual reasons, although current editions of the album credit Page, Plant and Bredon as the songwriters.<br /><br />Artist: Pentangle<br />Title: Pentangling<br />Source: LP: Superecord. Contemporary (originally released on LP: The Pentangle)<br />Writer(s): Cox/Jansch/McShea/Renbourne/Thompson<br />Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Once in a while an album comes along that is so consistently good that it's impossible to single out one specific track for airplay. Such is the case with the debut Pentangle album from 1968. The group, consisting of guitarists John Renbourne and Bert Jansch, vocalist Jacqui McShea, bassist Terry Cox, and drummer Danny Thompson, had more talent than nearly any band in history from any genre, yet never succumbed to the clash of egos that characterize most supergroups. A slightly edited version of Pentangling appeared on a special promotional album for JBL speakers (priced at less than a dollar!) called Superecord Contemporary in 1971.<br /><br />Artist: Fleetwood Mac<br />Title: Albatross<br />Source: European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: English Rose<br />Writer(s): Peter Green<br />Label: Sony Music (original US label: Epic)<br />Year: 1968<br /> Albatross was the third single released by Fleetwood Mac. Released in November of 1968, it hit the #1 spot on the UK Single Chart in January of 1969. The song, which is said to have been inspired by a series of notes in an Eric Clapton guitar solo (but slowed down considerably) had been in the works for some time, but left unfinished until the addition of then 18-year-old guitarist Danny Kirwan to the band, who, unlike the band's second guitarist Jeremy Spencer, was more than willing to help bandleader Peter Green work out the final arrangement. Although Spencer was usually the group's resident slide guitarist (as is seen miming the part on a video clip), Kirwan actually played the slide guitar parts behind Green's lead guitar work, with Mick Fleetwood using mallets rather than drumsticks on the recording. John McVie, of course, played bass on the tune.<br /><br />Artist: Uriah Heep<br />Title: The Park<br />Source: European import CD: Salisbury<br />Writer: Ken Hensley<br />Label: Sanctuary/BMG (original US label: Mercury)<br />Year: 1971<br /> Uriah Heep's second album, Salisbury, saw the band shifting in a more progressive direction, thanks in large part to the input of keyboardist Ken Hensley, who wrote half the songs on the album. As the band's career progressed, Hensley would become the group's primary songwriter. One of the early Hensley tunes was the Park, a relatively quiet piece that gives David Byron a chance to exercise the higher end of his vocal range. <br /><br />Artist: Pavlov's Dog<br />Title: Julia<br />Source: LP: Pampered Menial (promo copy)<br />Writer(s): David Surkamp<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1975<br /> During my first couple of years living in Albuquerque, NM, I met quite an assortment of strange and unusual people. Among them were a guy who would eventually come to be known as Carlos the Ragman and his roommate, Clint. Clint was, as near as I can tell, possessed of a genius IQ, enhanced by far too many acid trips. He seemed to be in possession of some sort of telepathic powers as well, as was made apparent on more than one occasion. In addition to (or maybe because of) all these things, Clint had somewhat unusual tastes in music. I remember him showing up one evening with an album he had just bought called Pampered Menial, by a band from St. Louis, Mo. called Pavlov's Dog. The opening track, Julia, was truly like nothing I had ever heard before, probably due to the unique vocals of David Surkamp, the writer of Julia. In addition to Surkamp, the band included Steve Scorfina, Mike Safron, Rick Stockton, David Hamilton, Doug Rayburn and Siegfried Carver. <br /><br />Artist: Firesign Theatre<br />Title: Excerpt from Part One: London; Chapter 2: An Outrageously Disgusting Disguise<br />Source: LP: The Tale Of The Giant Rat Of Sumatra<br />Writer(s): Procter/Bergman/Austin/Ossman<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1974<br /> The Firesign Theatre never passed up an opportunity to make a good (or bad) pun, and on this short excerpt from The Tale Of The Giant Rat Of Sumatra they make a whole series of them, all of which are dog related. The entire piece is a parody of Sherlock Holmes, taking place during England's Victorian Era.<br /><br />Artist: Savoy Brown<br />Title: Made Up My Mind<br />Source: British import CD: A Step Further<br />Writer: Chris Youlden<br />Label: Polygram/Deram (original US label: Parrot)<br />Year: 1969<br /> To coincide with a US tour, the fourth Savoy Brown album, A Step Further, was actually released in North America several months before it was in the UK, with Made Up My Mind (a Chris Youlden tune that borrowed heavily from Arthur Gunter's mid-50s classic Baby Let's Play House) being simultaneously released as a single. Luckily for the band, 1969 was a year that continued the industry-wide trend away from hit singles and toward successful albums instead, at least among the more progressive groups, as the single itself tanked. Aided by a decent amount of airplay on progressive FM radio, however, the album (the last to feature Youlden on lead vocals) peaked comfortably within the top 100 in the US.<br /> <br />Artist: Mahogany Rush<br />Title: Once Again<br />Source: Canadian import CD: Strange Universe<br />Writer(s): Frank Marino<br />Label: Just A Minute! (original US label: 20th Century)<br />Year: 1975<br /> Jimi Hendrix didn't often play in a jazz style, but when he did, he did it well. Case in point: Up From The Skies, from the album Axis: Bold As Love. In the mid-1970s Canadian guitarist Frank Marino and his band Mahogany Rush channeled that energy with the song Once Again on their Strange Universe album. The song reflects the same sort of ironic humor that Hendrix showed in songs like 51st Anniversary, yet stands out as an example of Marino's talent as a singer, songwriter and guitarist.<br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-81730916782147440882023-12-31T05:18:00.000-08:002023-12-31T05:18:22.849-08:00Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 2401 (starts 1/1/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/511075 </p><p><br /> This week we have three artists that, due to time constraints, got squeezed out of last week's expanded Advanced Psych segments, along with artists' sets from Cream and Big Brother And The Holding Company, the latter including two outtakes from the sessions that resulted in the most popular album of 1968, Cheap Thrills. And of course there's the usual mix of A sides, B sides and album tracks, starting with a set of hit singles originally released in 1965.<br /> <br />Artist: Byrds<br />Title: Mr. Tambourine Man<br />Source: Mono LP: Nuggets vol. 10-Folk Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Mr. Tambourine Man)<br />Writer(s): Bob Dylan<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)<br />Year: 1965<br /> The term "folk-rock" was coined by the music press to describe the debut single by the Byrds. Mr. Tambourine Man had been written and originally recorded by Bob Dylan, but it was the Byrds version that went to the top of the charts in 1965. Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and David Crosby had begun work on the song in 1964, when their manager got his hands on an acetate of Dylan performing the song with Ramblin' Jack Elliott. The trio, calling themselves the Jet Set, were trying to develop a sound that combined folk-based melodies and lyrics with arrangements inspired by the British Invasion, and felt that Mr. Tambourine Man might be a good candidate for that kind of treatment. Although the group soon added bassist Chris Hillman and drummer Michael Clarke, producer Terry Melcher opted to use the group of Los Angeles studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew for the instrumental track of the recording, along with McGuinn's 12-string guitar. Following the success of the single, the Byrds entered the studio to record their debut LP, this time playing their own instruments.<br /><br />Artist: Standells<br />Title: Dirty Water<br />Source: Mono LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Ed Cobb<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1965<br /> Dirty Water has long since been adopted by the city of Boston (and especially its sports teams), yet the band that originally recorded this Ed Cobb tune was purely an L.A. band, having started off playing cover tunes for frat parties in the early 60s. Drummer Dickie Dodd, who sings lead on Dirty Water, was a former Mouseketeer who had played on the surf-rock hit Mr. Moto as a member of the Bel-Airs.<br /><br />Artist: Seeds<br />Title: Pushin' Too Hard<br />Source: Simulated stereo CD: Nuggets-Classics From The Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: The Seeds)<br />Writer(s): Sky Saxon<br />Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)<br />Year: 1965<br /> Pushin' Too Hard is generally included on every collection of psychedelic hits ever compiled. And for good reason. The song is an undisputed classic, although it took the better part of two years to catch on. Originally released in 1965 as You're Pushin' Too Hard, the song was virtually ignored by local Los Angeles radio stations until a second single, Can't Seem To Make You Mine, started getting some attention. After being included on the Seeds' debut LP in 1966, Pushin' Too Hard was rereleased and soon was being heard all over the L.A. airwaves. By the end of the year stations in other markets were starting to spin the record, and the song hit its peak of popularity in early 1967.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: I'm Looking Through You<br />Source: LP: Rubber Soul<br />Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Capitol/EMI<br />Year: 1965<br /> Although John Lennon is generally thought of as the Beatle who wore his heart on his sleeve, it was Paul McCartney who came up with the song I'm Looking Through You for the Rubber Soul album. The lyrics refer to Jane Asher, who McCartney had been dating for about five years when he wrote the song. They split up soon afterward. <br /><br />Artist: Donovan<br />Title: Sunny South Kensington<br />Source: Mono British import CD: Mellow Yellow (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Donovan Leitch<br />Label: EMI (original label: Epic)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Scottish singer/songwriter Donovan Leitch followed up his 1966 hit single Sunshine Superman with an album of the same name. He then repeated himself with the song and album Mellow Yellow. The Mellow Yellow single, released in late 1966, included Sunny South Kensington, a song done in a similar style to Sunshine Superman, as its B side. The Mellow Yellow album itself appeared in the US in early 1967. Due to a contractual dispute in the UK between Donovan and Pye Records, neither Sunshine Superman or Mellow Yellow were issued in their original forms in Britain, although a hybrid album featuring tracks from both LPs did appear later.<br /><br />Artist: Marmalade<br />Title: I See The Rain<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Campbell/McAleese<br />Label: Rhino (original label: CBS)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1961 as the Gaylords, the Marmalade is best known for its international smash hit Reflections Of My Life in late 1968. One often overlooked song was I See The Rain, which Jimi Hendrix once called his favorite record of 1967. The song was not a hit in either the US or UK, although it did make the top 30 in the Netherlands. <br /><br />Artist: Jeff Beck<br />Title: Ol' Man River<br />Source: CD: Truth<br />Writer(s): Kern/Hammerstein II<br />Label: Epic/Legacy<br />Year: 1968<br /> Guitarist Jeff Beck's first solo LP was an eclectic mix of hard rock, psychedelia, blues and even a show tune; the latter being an adaptation of 'Ol Man River from 1927's Showboat, written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. Rod Stewart provides lead vocals on the track.<br /><br />Artist: Idle Race<br />Title: Hurry Up John<br />Source: British import CD: Insane times (originally released on LP: Idle Race)<br />Writer(s): Jeff Lynne<br />Label: Zonophone (original label: Liberty)<br />Year: 1969<br /> Virtually unknown in the US, the Idle Race released three LPs in the UK before frontman Jeff Lynne departed the group to join up with Roy Wood's band, the Move. Hurry Up John, a 1969 album track from the second Idle Race LP, is a classic sample of Britain's underground music scene. <br /><br />Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience (II)<br />Title: Valleys Of Neptune<br />Source: Stereo 45 RPM single<br />Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix<br />Label: Legacy<br />Year: Recorded 1970, released 2010<br /> Even before the breakup of the original Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1969, Hendrix was starting to work with other musicians, including keyboardist Steve Winwood and flautist/saxophonist Chris Wood from Traffic, bassist Jack Casidy from Jefferson Airplane and Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles. Still, he kept showing a tendency to return to the power trio configuration, first with Band of Gypsys, with Miles and bassist Billy Cox and, in 1970, a new trio that was sometimes billed as the Jimi Hendrix Experience. This trio, featuring Cox along with original Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell (with additional percussion added by Jumo Sultan), recorded extensively in the months leading up to Hendrix's death on September 18th, leaving behind hours of tapes in various stages of completion. Among those recordings was a piece called Valleys Of Neptune that was finally released, both as a single and as the title track of a new CD, in 2010.<br /><br />Artist: Jefferson Airplane<br />Title: Things Are Better In The East (demo version)<br />Source: CD: After Bathing At Baxter's (bonus track)<br />Writer: Marty Balin<br />Label: RCA/BMG Heritage<br />Year: 1967<br /> The third Jefferson Airplane album, After Bathing At Baxter's, saw Marty Balin hanging back and letting the other group members shine. Whereas a majority of songs on the first two albums were Balin compositions (both solo and in collaboration with Paul Kantner), his only composition on Baxter's was Young Girl Sunday Blues, co-written by Kantner. Balin was not completely idle during this period, however, as this demo recording of Things Are Better In The East (a finished version of which was held back for possible inclusion on a future album) demonstrates.<br /><br />Artist: Doors<br />Title: End Of The Night<br />Source: 45 RPM single B side<br />Writer(s): The Doors<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1967<br /> End Of The Night is one of those songs that seems to define a band's sound. In the case of the Doors, that sound was dark and menacing. No wonder, then, that End Of The Night was chosen to be the B side of the band's first single in early 1967.<br /><br />Artist: Pink Floyd<br />Title: Bike<br />Source: CD: Relics (originally released in UK on LP: The Piper At the Gates of Dawn)<br />Writer: Syd Barrett<br />Label: Capitol (originally released on EMI/Columbia)<br />Year: 1967<br /> Due to an inherent cheapness in Tower Records' approach to pretty much everything, four songs were left off the US version of the first Pink Floyd album, The Piper At the Gates of Dawn, with the band's second UK single, See Emily Play, being inserted in their stead (shortening the album's running time by nearly ten minutes). Among the missing songs was Syd Barrett's Bike, which did not appear in the US until the early 70s, when the Relics compilation was released. All CD releases of Piper in the US have restored the original song lineup and running order.<br /><br />Artist: Cream<br />Title: N.S.U.<br />Source: CD: Fresh Cream<br />Writer(s): Jack Bruce<br />Label: Polydor/Polygram (original US label: Atco)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Although most of Jack Bruce's Cream songs were co-written with lyricist Pete Brown, there were some exceptions. Among the most notable of these is N.S.U. from Cream's debut LP, which features Bruce's own lyrics. The song, also released as a B side, has proven popular enough to be included on several Cream retrospective collections and was part of the band's repertoire when they reunited for a three-day stint at the Royal Albert Hall in 2005. Before his death, Bruce revealed that N.S.U. actually stands for non-specific urethritis, which one of his bandmates was suffering from at the time the song was written.<br /><br />Artist: Cream<br />Title: White Room (single version)<br />Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Wheels Of Fire)<br />Writer(s): Bruce/Brown<br />Label: United Artists (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1968<br /> In order to get songs played on top 40 radio, record companies made it a practice to shorten album cuts by cutting out extended instrumental breaks and extra verses. This version of the Cream classic White Room, clocking in at just over three minutes, is a typical example. <br /><br />Artist: Cream<br />Title: Cat's Squirrel<br />Source: CD: Fresh Cream<br />Writer(s): Trad., arr. S. Splurge<br />Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)<br />Year: 1966<br /> One of the few instrumentals in the Cream repertoire, Cat's Squirrel was something of a blues standard whose origins are lost in antiquity. Unlike the 1968 Jethro Tull version, which emphasises Mick Abrahams's guitar work, Cream's Cat's Squirrel is heavy on the harmonica, played by bassist Jack Bruce. Arranger credits for the recording were given to S. Splurge, a pseudonym for the band itself, in the tradition of Nanker Phelge. <br /><br />Artist: Music Machine<br />Title: In My Neighborhood<br />Source: CD: Beyond The Garage<br />Writer(s): Sean Bonniwell<br />Label: Sundazed<br />Year: Recorded 1968, released 1995 <br /> Sean Bonniwell has been quoted as saying that he had overproduced the original version of In My Neighborhood, due to having too much idle time in the studio. As a result, he chose not to release the song at all. Years later, Bonniwell and Bob Irwin remixed the track for release on the anthology CD Beyond The Garage. <br /><br />Artist: Country Joe And The Fish<br />Title: Happiness Is A Porpoise Mouth<br />Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body<br />Writer(s): Joe McDonald<br />Label: Vanguard<br />Year: 1967<br /> The songs on the first Country Joe And The Fish album ranged from silly satire (Super Bird) to downright spacey. One of the spaciest tracks on the album is Happiness Is A Porpoise Mouth, both lyrically and musically.<br /><br />Artist: Crazy World Of Arthur Brown<br />Title: Spontaneous Apple Creation<br />Source: British import CD: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown<br />Writer(s): Brown/Crane<br />Label: Polydor (original US label: Atlantic)<br />Year: 1968<br /> One of the most revered examples of British psychedelia is the 1968 album The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. While side one was done as a concept album about Hell, side two was a mixture of original tunes and the most popular cover songs from the band's live repertoire. Among the originals on side two is Spontaneous Apple Creation, possibly the most avant-garde piece on the album. Once you hear it, you'll know exactly what I mean by that.<br /><br />Artist: Mommyheads<br />Title: Genius Killer<br />Source: CD: Genius Killer<br />Writer(s): Adam Cohen<br />Label: Mommyhead Music<br />Year: 2022<br /> The Mommyheads are one of those rare bands that were able to recover from being totally screwed over by a major record company, although the process took several years. Formed around 1987 in New York, they already had several releases on independent labels by the time they signed with Geffen and recorded the album called The Mommyheads in 1997. Before the album was even released, however, the band was dropped from the label due to a company-wide shakeup, and within a few months had disbanded altogether. Nearly ten years later, following a reunion concert, the Mommyheads once again became a working band, re-releasing some of their earlier material over the next few years. In 2011 they released Delicate Friction, their first album of all-new material since the 1990s. Since then they have been releasing albums on a somewhat steady basis, including the 2020 re-release of their 1997 major label debut album. Their most recent release is Genius Killer, which came out on September, 20, 2022. <br /><br />Artist: McFadden's Parachute<br />Title: The Belt Of Gilgamesh<br />Source: CD: Psolipsystic Psychedelic Pslyces Of McFadden's Parachute<br />Writer(s): Darren Brennessel<br />Label: PeterFonda<br />Year: Hard to determine<br /> Although the psychedelic era itself officially covers only a few years in the late 1960s, for many the spirit of the era's music lives on. One such person is Darren Brennessel of Rochester, NY, who is the mastermind behind over two dozen McFadden's Parachute albums. Brennessel has been playing professionally since 1989, when he was the drummer for a band called the Purple Flashes, conceiving and recording the first McFadden's Parachute album as a side project. In the years since, in addition to playing multiple instruments on McFadden's Parachute albums, Brennessel has continued to play drums with a variety of bands, including Sky Saxon's Green Forests, which recorded an as-yet unreleased album in 2004. A while back, Darren sent me a special sampler collection of McFadden's Parachute tracks recorded mostly in the 1990s, including The Belt Of Gilgamesh, a science-fiction piece speculating on the origins of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupitor.<br /><br />Artist: Strawberry Zots<br />Title: Pretty Flowers<br />Source: LP: Cars, Flowers, Telephones<br />Writer(s): Mark Andrews<br />Label: StreetSound<br />Year: 1989<br /> Albuquerque's Strawberry Zots were led by Mark Andrews, who either wrote or co-wrote all of the band's original material. Their only LP, Cars, Flowers, Telephones, was released locally on the StreetSound label and reissued on CD the following year by RCA records. My personal favorite track on the album is Pretty Flowers, which starts off the LP's second side. Unfortunately the song is handicapped by its low-fidelity production, which may have been a deliberate attempt to emulate the sound of 60s psychedelia, but ends up sounding over-compressed (like much of the music of the 1980s).<br /> <br />Artist: Rolling Stones<br />Title: Lady Jane<br />Source: British import LP: Aftermath (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer: Jagger/Richards<br />Label: Abkco (original US label: London)<br />Year: 1966<br /> One of the best early Rolling Stones albums is 1966's Aftermath, which included such classics as Under My Thumb, Stupid Girl and the eleven-minute Goin' Home. Both the US and UK versions of the LP included the song Lady Jane, which was also released as the B side to Mother's Little Helper (which had been left off the US version of Aftermath to make room for Paint It, Black). The policy at the time in the US was for B sides that got a significant amount of airplay to be rated separately from the A side of the single, and Lady Jane managed to climb to the # 24 spot on the Hot 100 (Mother's Little Helper peaked at # 8).<br /><br />Artist: Beach Boys<br />Title: I Know There's An Answer<br />Source: Mono LP: Pet Sounds<br />Writer(s): Wilson/Sachen<br />Label: Capitol/EMI<br />Year: 1966<br /> One of the first songs recorded for the Pet Sounds album was Hang On To Your Ego, allegedly written by Brian Wilson on his second acid trip. Mike Love objected to some of the lyrics, particularly those of the chorus, and Wilson eventually decided to scrap them and write new ones, this time with the help of the group's road manager, Terry Sachen. The result was I Know There's An Answer.<br /><br />Artist: Davie Allan And The Arrows<br />Title: Blue's Theme<br />Source: Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released on LP: The Wild Ones-soundtrack and as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Curb/Allan<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)<br />Year: 1966<br /> It is entirely possible that the Chocolate Watchband (or more accurately, the unknown producers of their first recording) were indirectly responsible for giving guitarist Davie Allan his biggest hit single. In 1966, movie producer Roger Corman hired Mike Curb to comeup with soundtrack music for his 1966 film The Wild Ones. Curb in turn contacted his longtime friend (and frequent collaborator) Davie Allan to actually record the soundtrack with his band, the Arrows. The film was released in July of 1966, with the soundtrack album appearing soon after. The obvious high point of the album was the instrumental track Blue's Theme (which technically should have been Blues's Theme, since the film's main character, played by Peter Fonda, was named Heavenly Blues), but at first there were reportedly no plans to release the song as a single. However, late in the year the Chocolate Watch Band were making their very first visit to a recording studio, and were asked to knock out a quick cover of Blues Theme, which was released (sans apostrophe) on the HBR label, credited to The Hogs. Curb must have heard about this as it was being prepared for release, as he managed to put out a single release of the original Davie Allan version of Blue's Theme before the HBR single hit the racks. Either that, or (more likely) the HBR producers simply had bad info about Curb's intentions in the first place.<br /><br />Artist: Things To Come<br />Title: 'Til The End<br />Source: Mono CD: If You're Ready-The Best Of Dunwich Records Volume 2 (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Kennith Ashley<br />Label: Rhino/Here 'Tis (original label: Dunwich)<br />Year: 1966<br /> Despite spending a considerable amount of time looking for information on the Illinois band called Things To Come (not to be confused with the L.A. band of the same name), I still know absolutely nothing about them. The extensive liner notes accompanying the compilation CD If You're Ready-The Best Of Dunwich Records Volume 2 that contains the song 'Til The End fails to mention them at all. Even the spelling of the songwriter's first name is suspect. So if you know anything at all about these guys, let me know, OK?<br /><br />Artist: Shadows of Knight<br />Title: Oh Yeah<br />Source: CD: Oh Yeah! The Best Of Dunwich Records (originally released on LP: Gloria and as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer: Elias McDaniel<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)<br />Year: 1966<br /> The original British blues bands like the Yardbirds made no secret of the fact that they had created their own version of a music that had come from Chicago. The Shadows Of Knight, on the other hand, were a Chicago band that created their own version of the British blues, bringing the whole thing full circle. After taking their version of Van Morrison's Gloria into the top 10 early in 1966, the Shadows (which had added "of Knight" to their name just prior to releasing Gloria) decided to follow it up with an updated version of Bo Diddley's Oh Yeah. Although the song did not have a lot of national top 40 success, it did help establish the Shadows' reputation as one of the grittiest bands around (the term garage-punk not yet being in common usage).<br /><br />Artist: Big Brother And The Holding Company<br />Title: Catch Me Baby<br />Source: CD: Cheap Thrills (bonus track)<br />Writer(s): Albin/Andrew/Gtez/Gurley/Joplin<br />Label: Columbia/Legacy<br />Year: Recorded 1968, released 1999<br /> After Columbia bought out Big Brother And The Holding Company's contract from Mainstream Records it was decided that the best way to record the band was during a live performance. On March 2, 1968 several songs were recorded at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, but after reviewing the recordings, producer John Simon decided to re-record the band in the studio and overdub crowd noise to make the album appear to be a live performance. In 1999, two of the original Detroit performances, including Catch Me Baby, were included as bonus tracks on the remastered CD version of Cheap Thrills.<br /><br />Artist: Big Brother And The Holding Company<br />Title: Oh, Sweet Mary<br />Source: LP: Cheap Thrills<br />Writer(s): Albin/Andrew/Getz/Gurley/Joplin<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1968<br /> The only song credited to the entire membership of Big Brother And The Holding Company on their Cheap Thrills album was Oh, Sweet Mary (although the original label credits Janis Joplin as sole writer and the album cover itself gives only Joplin and Peter Albin credit). The tune bears a strong resemblance to Coo Coo, a non-album single the band had released on the Mainstream label before signing to Columbia. Oh, Sweet Mary, however, has new lyrics and, for a breath of fresh air, a bridge section played at a slower tempo than the rest of the tune.<br /><br />Artist: Big Brother And The Holding Company<br />Title: Flower In The Sun<br />Source: CD: Cheap Thrills (bonus track)<br />Writer(s): Sam Andrew<br />Label: Columbia/Legacy<br />Year: Recorded 1968, released 1999<br /> Sam Houston Andrew III is one of the more overlooked talents of the late 1960s San Francisco music scene. Born in 1941, Andrew was a military brat who, at the age of 17, was the host of his own TV show in Okinawa, Japan, as well as leader of the show's house band. His father was transferred to a base in California shortly after Andrew graduated high school, and Andrew soon became involved with the San Francisco music scene. In 1966 he and Peter Albin formed Big Brother And The Holding Company, a band that would, by the end of the year, include vocalist Janis Joplin. Following the release of the hit album Cheap Thrills in 1968, Andrew and Joplin left Big Brother to form the Kozmic Blues Band. Less than a year later Andrew returned to Big Brother And The Holding Company, becoming the band's musical director until his death in 2015. Andrew was Big Brother's most prolific songwriter (he had written his first song at age 6), contributing songs like Combination Of The Two (the band's usual set opener) and Flower In The Sun, the studio version of which was intended for inclusion on Cheap Thrills but didn't make the final cut. <br /><br />Artist: Neil Young/Crazy Horse<br />Title: Down By The River<br />Source: CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere<br />Writer(s): Neil Young<br />Label: Reprise<br />Year: 1969<br /> Down By The River is one of four songs on the album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere that Neil Young wrote while running a fever of 103 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 39.5 degrees for people in civilized nations that use the Celsius, aka centrigrade, scale). By some strange coincidence, they are the four best songs on the album. I wish I could have been that sick in my days as a wannabe rock star.<br /><br />Artist: David Bowie<br />Title: The Man Who Sold The World<br />Source: CD: The Man Who Sold The World<br />Writer(s): David Bowie<br />Label: Parlophone (original US label: Mercury)<br />Year: 1970<br /> The Man Who Sold The World is the title track of David Bowie's third LP. At the time, Bowie was a relatively obscure artist still looking for an audience and, in his own words, an identity as well. Unlike other Bowie albums, The Man Who Sold The World was released in the US several months earlier than in the UK. The song itself was not considered single material at the time, although it ended up being a surprise hit in the UK for Lulu in 1974, and became popular with a whole new generation when Nirvana released an unplugged version of the tune in 1993. After Bowie signed with RCA, The Man Who Sold The World was re-issued as the B side of Space Oddity in 1972.<br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-66090119617906204612023-12-31T05:09:00.000-08:002023-12-31T05:09:30.428-08:00Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2401 (starts 1/1/24)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/511073</p><p><br /> This week we feature a concerto for group vs. orchestra. Well, that's what it should have been called, anyway. As for the rest of the show, we have an early live rendition of a well-known Allman Brothers Band instrumental and a unique take on John D. Loudermilk's Tobacco Road, among other things.<br /><br />Artist: Jethro Tull<br />Title: Nothing Is Easy<br />Source: CD: Stand Up<br />Writer(s): Ian Anderson<br />Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original US label: Reprise)<br />Year: 1969<br /> Not long after the release of the first Jethro Tull album, guitarist Mick Abrahams, who was a blues enthusiast, left the group due to musical differences with lead vocalist/flautist Ian Anderson, who favored a more eclectic approach to songwriting. Abrahams's replacement was Martin Barre, who remains a member of the group to this day. One of the first songs recorded with Barre is Nothing Is Easy, a blues rocker that opens side two of the band's second LP, Stand Up. More than any other track on Stand Up, Nothing Is Easy sounds like it could have been an outtake from This Was, the band's debut LP.<br /><br />Artist: Canned Heat<br />Title: Pony Blues<br />Source: British import CD: Living The Blues<br />Writer(s): Charlie Patton<br />Label: BGO (original US label: Liberty)<br />Year: 1968<br /> In their early days Canned Heat concentrated on playing authentic cover versions of blues tunes. By the time they got to recording their third album, Living The Blues, they had developed a sound uniquely their own. They hadn't quite abandoned covering early blues songs, however. In fact, Living The Blues opens with Canned Heat's arrangement of a song that dates back to Charlie Patton's very first recording session. Patton was 19 (more or less, as his actual birthday is in question) when he wrote Pony Blues, which became his first record released on the Paramount label in 1929.<br /><br />Artist: Rare Earth<br />Title: Tobacco Road<br />Source: British import CD: The Collection (originally released on LP: Get Ready)<br />Writer(s): J.D. Loudermilk<br />Label: Spectrum (original label: Rare Earth)<br />Year: 1969<br /> Rare Earth was not the first white band to sign with Motown, but they were the most successful. Formed in 1960 as the Sunliners, the band was one of the most popular groups on the Detroit club circuit by 1968, when they recorded their first LP for the Verve label. Not long after that they came to the attention of Barney Ales, a vice president of Motown who was in charge of developing a new label that would specialize in white acts. After seeing the Sunliners perform, he immediately signed them up as the flaghip band for his as-yet unnamed new label. Ales and the band felt that the group needed a new name, and the name Rare (for the fact that few white bands were signed to black labels at the time) Earth (because they were down to it) was quickly adopted. When Ales mentioned that he still didn't have a name for the new label, one of the band members joking suggested using Rare Earth for that as well. To everyone's surprise Ales (with the approval of Motown president Barry Gordy) did exactly that. Rare Earth's first record was the 1969 LP Get Ready, which featured an extended version of the title track (a former Temptations hit) taking up an entire side. An edited version of Get Ready was released as a single and hit #4 on the Billboard top 100, a strong outing for a debut single. The LP itself peaked at #12 on the album charts. One of the notable tracks on the Get Ready album was a seven-minute long version of J.D. Loudermilk's Tobacco Road, a song that had been a 1964 hit for Britain's Nashville Teens and had been given unique treatments by both Jefferson Airplane and the Blues Magoos in 1966. Rare Earth's take on the classic is perhaps the most dynamic version of the song ever recorded.<br /><br />Artist: Led Zeppelin<br />Title: That's The Way<br />Source: CD: Led Zeppelin III<br />Writer(s): Page/Plant<br />Label: Atlantic<br />Year: 1970<br /> I read somewhere that Jimmy Page came up with The Rain Song (from the album Houses Of The Holy) in response to someone asking him why Led Zeppelin hadn't recorded any ballads. Apparently that person had never heard That's The Way, from the album Led Zeppelin III. Setting aside my own view that "rock ballads" aren't really ballads in the first place, if That's The Way isn't one of them, I don't know what is.<br /><br />Artist: Black Oak Arkansas<br />Title: I Could Love You<br />Source: LP: Black Oak Arkansas<br />Writer(s): Black Oak Arkansas<br />Label: Atco<br />Year: 1971<br /> Although their most popular period was later in the decade, I still think their 1971 self-titled debut LP is Black Oak Arkansas's best. Maybe that's because I saw them perform live (opening for Grand Funk Railroad) right as the album came out, with a setlist that followed that of the LP itself. I was unsure of what to think of them for the first few tunes, but the one that won me over was I Could Love You, which closes out the album's first side. Unfortunately, the band had a habit of jumping the shark from time to time, resulting in them becoming a parody of themselves by the mid-70s, at which time lead vocalist Jim "Dandy" Mangrum fired most of the other band members and toned down his vocal style, shortening the name of the band to Black Oak. Despite literally dozens of personnel changes over the years, Mangrum continues to front a band called Black Oak Arkansas.<br /><br />Artist: Allman Brothers Band<br />Title: In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed<br />Source: CD: Fillmore East February 1970<br />Writer(s): Dicky Betts<br />Label: Owsley Stanley Foundation/The Allman Brothers Band Recording Company (Bear's Sonic Journals series)<br />Year: Recorded 1970, released 1997, remastered 2018<br /> One of the greatest instrumentals in rock history, In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed was written by Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dicky Betts. The song got it's name from a headstone that Betts saw at the Rose Hill Cemetary in Macon, Georgia. That same cemetary is where band members Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are now buried. The band had only just begun to work the new instrumental into its setlist (as the set opener) when they were invited to open for the Grateful Dead for three nights at the Fillmore East in February of 1970. As the Allman Brothers did not, at that time, have their own soundman, Owsley "Bear" Stanley ran the board, and, as was his habit, had a tape machine running with a feed from the soundboard the entire time there was music being made. The tapes of the Allman Brothers' performance were first released in 1997 by Stanley himself; in 2018 his son Starfinder and a team of engineers remastered the entire set for the Bear's Sonic Journals series of releases.<br /><br />Artist: Deep Purple<br />Title: Concerto For Group And Orchestra, First Movement: <br />Source: German import LP: Deep Purpple In Live Concert At The Royal Albert Hall "Concerto For Group And Orchestra"<br />Writer(s): Jon Lord<br />Label: Harvest<br />Year: 1969<br /> Deep Purple released their first album in 1968. By the following year organist Jon Lord was obviously yearning to scratch a "classical" itch, as can be heard on the song April from the band's self-title third LP. He took that itch to its natural conclusion later that year with an album called Deep Purpple In Live Concert At The Royal Albert Hall "Concerto For Group And Orchestra". Utilizing a full orchestra, the album was basically one long work in three movements. The first movement might well be called Concerto For Group Vs. Orchestra, as the two have what Lord calls an "antagonistic" relationship, with the orchestra starting the piece only to have it hijacked by the band. The two trade off prominence for the entire movement, which runs for nearly 20 minutes.The album itself, released in 1969, was both a critical and commercial failure, but did feature the debut of Deep Purple's new lead vocalist, Ian Gillan. Whether or not the album succeeds artistically, I leave up to you to determine.<br /><br />Artist: Stooges<br />Title: Real Cool Time<br />Source: CD: The Stooges<br />Writer(s): The Stooges<br />Label: Elektra<br />Year: 1969<br /> The Stooges may not have actually invented punk rock, but their 1969 debut album is universally cited as a major influence on the entire movement. When they signed with Elektra the band did not have enough material written to fill even one side of an LP. After Elektra rejected their first efforts (described by the band as "after two minutes of the song format...it would go into six to eight minutes of improvisation"), the band came up with three new songs over a 24 hour period. One of those three was Real Cool Time, which has since become a punk anthem.<br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97211057532659434.post-25105327963049212022023-12-23T22:36:00.000-08:002023-12-23T22:36:45.151-08:00Stuck with a hermit Before and After the Psychedelic Era # 2352 (starts 12/25/23)<p>https://exchange.prx.org/p/510550</p><p><br /> It's the final week of 2023, and that means it's time to get Stuck with a hermit Before and After the Psychedelic Era. What that means is that, for the first hour it's all about the music that made the psychedelic era possible, which includes a bit of folk and surf music and a nod to a certain band from Liverpool. But before all that we go even further back, right to the very beginning of what we now call rock 'n' roll. The second hour is an expanded edition of our Advanced Psych segment, featuring tunes from the late 20th and early 21st centuries that preserve the psychedelic spirit.<br /><br />Artist: Jackie Brenston And His Delta Cats<br />Title: Rocket 88<br />Source: Mono CD: Roots Of Rock 1945-1956 (originally released as 78 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Brenston/Turner<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Chess)<br />Year: 1951<br /> There are several contenders for the title of first rock 'n' roll record, but the one most often cited is Rocket 88. Produced by Sam Phillips, the song was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, but was in reality Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm (Brenston was the group's saxophonist and occasional featured vocalist). According to legend, guitarist Willie Kizart's amplifier suffered a damaged speaker when the band traveled from their Mississippi rehearsal space to Memphis to record the song. To hold the damaged speaker in place Phillips and the band members stuffed wadded up newspaper into the amp, which created a distorted sound that Phillips immediately took to. Rocket 88, released on the Chess label in 1951, ended up going to the top of the R&B charts; more importantly, the record's success helped Phillips launch his own label, Sun Records, the following year.<br /><br />Artist: Wynonie Harris<br />Title: Good Rockin' Tonight<br />Source: Mono CD: Roots Of Rock 1945-1956 (originally released as 78 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Roy Brown<br />Label: Rhino (original label: King)<br />Year: 1948<br /> Another contender for the title of first rock 'n' roll song is a tune called Good Rocking Tonight. Originally recorded by Roy Brown and released in 1947 on the DeLuxe label (with the description "Rocking Blues with Instrumental Accompaniment), the song was picked up by blues shouter Wynonie Harris after Brown's version started catching on as a regional hit in New Orleans. Harris's version of Good Rockin' Tonight topped the R&B charts in 1948 and was later covered by a young Elvis Presley, who released it as his second single for the Sun label in 1954.<br /><br />Artist: Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five<br />Title: Saturday Night Fish Fry<br />Source: Mono CD: Roots Of Rock II (originally released as 78 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Jordan/Walsh<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Decca)<br />Year: 1949<br /> Yet another contender for title of first rock 'n' roll record is Saturday Night Fish Fry, released in 1949 by Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five. Chuck Berry later said that, to his recollection, Jordan was the first person he heard play rock 'n' roll. The song itself topped the R&B charts for a dozen weeks (non-consecutive) and is considered the pinnacle of the jump blues style that dominated 40s rhythm and blues. <br /><br />Artist: Amos Milburn<br />Title: Chicken Shack Boogie<br />Source: Mono CD: Roots Of Rock 1945-1956 (originally released as 78 RPM single B side)<br />Writer(s): Amos Milburn<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Aladdin)<br />Year: 1948<br /> Originally released as a B side, Chicken Shack Boogie was singer/pianist Amos Milburn's first national hit, going all the way to the top of the R&B charts in 1949. Recorded just prior to the musicians' strike of 1948, the song was perhaps the earliest rock 'n' roll song released on a Los Angeles label (Aladdin).<br /><br />Artist: Dominoes<br />Title: Have Mercy Baby<br />Source: Mono CD: Roots Of Rock II (originally released as 45 & 78 RPM singles)<br />Writer(s): Ward/Marks<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Federal)<br />Year: 1952<br /> By 1952 many labels were simultaneously releasing singles on both 78 RPM "shellacs" and 45 RPM vinyl records. One of the most popular was Have Mercy Baby, often considered the definitive "rhythm & gospel" record. The song was co-written by Billy Ward, a vocal coach who built the Dominoes around tenor Clyde McPhatter, who would go on to form the Drifters before embarking on a successful solo career later in the decade.<br /><br />Artist: Wille Mae "Big Mama" Thornton<br />Title: Hound Dog<br />Source: Mono CD: Roots Of Rock 1945-1956 (originally released as 78 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Lieber/Stoller<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Peacock)<br />Year: 1953<br /> Although the progenitors of rock 'n' roll were mostly male, a handful of female vocalists made their mark as well. Among those was Wille Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. After her first two singles failed to gain any traction, Peacock Records owner Don Robey brought in bandleader Johnny Otis to produce her next record. Otis introduced Thornton to a pair of teenaged songwriters, who wrote Hound Dog, a song about a woman tossing her jigalo boyfriend out of her life, to match the singer's style and personality. Lieber later said that Thornton "looked like the biggest, baddest, saltiest chick you would ever see. And she was mean, a 'lady bear,' as they used to call 'em. She must have been 350 pounds, and she had all these scars all over her face" conveying words which could not be sung." Hound Dog was the first of many hits to be written by the Lieber and Stoller team, while Thornton, a songwriter as well as singer, is probably best known as the writer of Ball And Chain, the song that made Janis Joplin an overnight star when performed at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967.<br /><br />Artist: Joe Turner And His Blues Kings<br />Title: Flip, Flop And Fly<br />Source: Mono CD: Roots Of Rock II (originally released as 45 & 78 RPM singles)<br />Writer(s): Calhoun/Turner<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Atlantic)<br />Year: 1955<br /> Whenever I hear Joe Turner's Flip, Flop And Fly I immediately think of the animated film Chicken Run. The song itself is basically a 1955 sequel to (or reworking of) Turner's better known Shake, Rattle And Roll, which had come out the previous year, and is one of the last "jump blues" songs to become a hit single. As far as I know, Bill Haley And His Comets did not cover this one.<br /><br />Artist: Muddy Waters<br />Title: I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man<br />Source: Mono CD: Roots Of Rock 1945-1956 (originally released as 45 & 78 RPM singles)<br />Writer(s): Willie Dixon<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Chess)<br />Year: 1954<br /> The psychedelic era would not have happened without the influence of the British invasion. And the British invasion would not have happened without the influence of American blues artists such as Muddy Waters. In late 1953 songwriter Willie Dixon approached record mogul Leonard Chess with a song he felt was right for Waters called I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man. Waters himself took to the tune immediately, and I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man became the biggest hit of Waters's career when released in 1954. The song, with its distinctive use of stop time at the beginning of each verse, is one of the most popular blues songs of all time, and has inspired many other songs such as Bo Diddley's I'm A Man and the Jerry Lieber/Mike Stoller tune Riot In Cell Block Number 9. I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man also cemented Dixon's position as the premier songwriter at Chess Records, and has been recorded by dozens of artists over the years (including Steppenwolf, who's 1968 version of Hoochie Coochie Man introduced me to Dixon's songwriting).<br /><br />Artist: Little Junior's Blue Flames<br />Title: Feelin' Good<br />Source: Mono CD: Roots Of Rock II (originally released as 45 & 78 RPM singles)<br />Writer(s): Junior Parker<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Sun)<br />Year: 1953<br /> The first time I heard Feelin' Good by Little Junior's Blue Flames my first thought was "So that's where they got it!"; they, in this case, being Canned Heat. Born in Mississippi, details of Junior Parker's early life are somewhat sketchy, but by 1950 he was associated with the Beale Streeters, a musicians coaltion that included such future stars as Bobby "Blue" Bland and B.B. King. In 1951 Parker formed his own band, the Blue Flames, and signed with Sam Phillips's Sun label. His first single for sun was Feelin' Good, which hit the #5 spot on the R&B charts in 1953. A later song written by Parker, Mystery Train, became one of Elvis Presley's best known early recordings.<br /><br /> No matter who created it, there is no doubt that by the mid-1950s, rock 'n' roll was in full swing, with its own set of rising stars.<br /><br />Artist: Chuck Berry<br />Title: Maybellene<br />Source: Mono CD: Billboard Top Rock 'n' Roll Hits-1955 (originally released as 45 & 78 RPM singles)<br />Writer(s): Chuck Berry<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Chess)<br />Year: 1955<br /> Although there are plenty of tunes dating back to the late 1940s that have at least partial claim to being the first rock 'n' roll records, it was Chuck Berry's Maybellene that announced to the world that rock 'n' roll had truly arrived. Released in 1955, the song rose quickly up the charts, thanks in part to disc jockey Alan Freed, who not only championed the original record but was given a composer's credit on later releases of the song (thought to be a form of payola). To put things in perspective, John Lennon once said “If you had to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry." By the end of the 1950s, however, Berry had fallen out of favor due to things (like transporting a teenage girl across state lines) that had nothing to do with his music.<br /><br />Artist: Little Richard<br />Title: Long Tall Sally<br />Source: Mono CD: Billboard Top R&B Hits-1956 (originally released as 45 & 78 RPM singles)<br />Writer(s): Johnson/Blackwell/Penniman<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Specialty)<br />Year: 1956<br /> There's little doubt that Pat Boone's cover of Tutti Frutti lessened the impact of Little Richard's original, even if it did increase the popularity of the song itself, generating more royalties for everyone involved. But, as Little Richard himself put it, "When Tutti Frutti came out. ... They needed a rock star to block me out of white homes because I was a hero to white kids. The white kids would have Pat Boone upon the dresser and me in the drawer 'cause they liked my version better, but the families didn't want me because of the image that I was projecting." So for his next single, Little Richard decided to write a song that was so up-tempo and the lyrics so fast that Boone would not be able to handle it. That song was Long Tall Sally, and although Boone did record a cover of it, it was Little Richard's version that made the top 10 in 1956. Late in 1957, Little Richard shocked everyone by announcing he was leaving rock 'n' roll to study theology. He didn't return to the entertainment world until 1962, but by then his popularity had faded considerably.<br /><br />Artist: Jerry Lee Lewis<br />Title: Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On<br />Source: Mono CD: Billboard Top Rock 'n' Roll Hits-1957 (originally released as 45 & 78 RPM singles)<br />Writer(s): Williams/David<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Sun)<br />Year: 1957<br /> The original "rock 'n' roll wild man", Jerry Lee Lewis cut his first single, Crazy Arms, for Sun Records in 1956. Over the next few months the pianist made a decent living as a session musician for the label, backing up people like Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. Lewis's breakthrough as a solo artist came in 1967 with the release of his version of Big Maybell's Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On. Despite his wild antics onstage, Jerry Lee Lewis was a deeply religious man who often expressed concern that the music he was making was leading both him and his audience down the road to Hell. Lewis's rock 'n' roll career got derailed when it was discovered that he, at age 22, had married his then 13-year-old cousin (his third marraige). He later resurfaced as a country star, charting 17 top 10 singles on the country charts between 1968 and 1977.<br /><br /> As rock 'n' roll grew in popularity, opposition to it grew even faster. There were warnings about how the "Devil's music" was corrupting the youth of America, but such warnings only served to make rock 'n' roll even more attractive to rebellious teenagers. It only took a couple of years, however, for the Establishment to figure out that the best way to control this new music was to infiltrate it, replacing the early rock 'n' rollers with made-to-order "pop stars" that could easily be controlled. By 1960, the typical hit record was written by professional songwriters, with instrumental tracks provided by studio musicians hired by producers who would then bring in vocalists to complete the product to be sent out to top 40 radio stations across the country. Nobody called it rock 'n' roll anymore, but there were things happening that would, within a few short years, lead to what is now known as the psychedelic era. One of those things was the mostly instrumental music being played on a local level by musicians inspired by the early rock 'n' rollers, particularly on the US West Coast. At the same time surfing was growing in popularity, and it didn't take long for many of those instrumentalists to become identified with the sport. Among those was a guitarist named Dick Dale...<br /><br />Artist: Dick Dale And His Del-Tones<br />Title: Miserlou<br />Source: Mono CD: Surfin' Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Nick Rubanis<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Del-Tone)<br />Year: 1962<br /> When the term "surf music" comes up, most people think of vocal groups such as the Beach Boys or Jan & Dean. Some even mention the Ventures, who released well over a hundred instrumental LPs in their existence, most of which are considered surf records. Those truly in the know, however, will tell you that Dick Dale, the man who was asked by Fender Instruments to road test their new Reverb guitar amplifiers in the early 60s, was the true King Of The Surf Guitar. Although he did record a few vocal singles, Dale is mostly known for his high-energy instrumental tracks such as Miserlou, a 1962 recording that was given new life in 1994 when Quentin Tarantino included it in the film Pulp Fiction. <br /><br />Artist: Chantays<br />Title: Pipeline<br />Source: CD: Surfin' Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Spickard/Carman<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Downey)<br />Year: 1962<br /> Bob Spickard, Brian Carman, Bob Welch, Warren Waters and Rob Marshall were all students at Santa Ana High School in California who were inspired by a local group called the Rhythm Rockers to form their own rock and roll band. The surf craze was just getting under way on the California coast, and the new group, calling themselves the Chantays, soon found themselves recording for the local Downey label, which was actually owned by a music publishing company. In December of 1962 they recorded and released what would become one of the most popular instrumental surf songs ever committed to vinyl: the classic Pipeline. The song was quickly picked up an re-released on the Dot label in early 1963, eventually going all the way to the #4 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The Chantays have the distinction of being the only rock 'n' roll band to ever perform on TV's Lawrence Welk Show.<br /><br />Artist: Beach Boys<br />Title: Surfin'<br />Source: Mono LP: Surfin' Safari (originally released as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Wilson/Love<br />Label: Capitol (original label: Candix)<br />Year: 1961<br /> It is a little known fact that the popularity of the first Beach Boys single Surfin', actually bankrupted Candix records (apparently several distributors skipped out on actually paying for copies). The song itself, recorded in November of 1961 using rented instruments, has a kind of high energy doo wop quality that doesn't much resemble the kind of songs that made them famous, but it was pretty popular in Southern California when it was released in December of 1961. Luckily for the band, their manager/father Murry had already negotiated a deal with Capitol Records and Surfin' ended up being included on their debut LP, Surfin' Safari, the following year.<br /><br /> At the same time that surf music was rising in popularity in the West, a revival of folk music (much of which had been forced underground by McCarthyism in the 1950s) was happening on the East Coast, with icons from the 1940s like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie inspiring a new generation of singers and songwriters that had no interest in becoming part of the pop music machine.<br /><br />Artist: Bob Dylan<br />Title: Blowin' In The Wind<br />Source: Mono CD: The Best Of The Original Mono Recordings (originally released on LP: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan)<br />Writer(s): Bob Dylan<br />Label: Columbia/Legacy<br />Year: 1963<br /> Generally acknowledged as Bob Dylan's first true classic, Blowin' In The Wind first appeared on the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The song was popularized the following year by Peter, Paul and Mary and soon was the single most played song around campfires from coast to coast. For all I know it still is. (Do people still sing around campfires? Maybe they should.)<br /><br />Artist: Joan Baez<br />Title: There But For Fortune<br />Source: 45 RPM single (promo copy)<br />Writer: Phil Ochs<br />Label: Vanguard<br />Year: 1965<br /> When I was a kid I used to occasionally pick up something called a grab bag at the local PX (my dad being in the military, I had access to such places). It was literally a sealed brown paper bag with anywhere from four to six 45 rpm records in it. Usually these were "cut-outs", leftover copies of records that hadn't sold as well as expected. Often they were five or six years old (albeit unplayed). Once in a while, though, there would be a real gem among them. My original copy of the Joan Baez recording of Phil Ochs's There But For Fortune was one such gem. I later found a promo copy while working at KUNM in Albuquerque, which is the one I use now, since my original is long since worn out. Not only was this record my first introduction to Joan Baez, it was also the first record I had ever seen on the Vanguard label and the first song written by Phil Ochs I had ever heard. Not bad for twelve and a half cents, especially when you consider that the flip side was Baez doing a Bob Dylan tune that Dylan himself had not yet released. <br /><br />Artist: Phil Ochs<br />Title: I Ain't Marching Anymore<br />Source: CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)<br />Writer(s): Phil Ochs<br />Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)<br />Year: 1965<br /> 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. <br /><br /> With folk music setting the stage on one coast and surf music on the other, the final catalyst that gave birth to the psychedelic era came from, of all places, Liverpool, England, where four young men were demonstrating that one did not need professional songwriters and studio musicians to make popular records.<br /><br />Artist: Beatles<br />Title: P.S. I Love You<br />Source: CD: Please Please Me (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single B side; US release: LP: Introducing...The Beatles)<br />Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney<br />Label: Apple/Parlophone (original US label: Vee Jay)<br />Year: 1962<br /> As the B side of the very first Beatles single, P.S. I Love You was, along with Love Me Do, one of the first songs that people outside of Liverpool or Hamburg ever heard by the fab four. The single itself sold moderately well in the UK, but was only the first hint of what Beatlemania would soon become. Released in 1962, the two songs originally appeared in the US on the first pressing of the album Introducing The Beatles, which was released in January of 1964 on the Vee Jay label after sitting on the shelf for several months. Within a week, however, Vee Jay withdrew the album from circulation due to litigation from Capitol Records. Apparently, by not releasing the single in the US the previous year, Vee Jay had allowed Capitol's publishing arm to secure the rights to the two songs. Vee Jay quickly released a modified version of Introducing...The Beatles that did not include the two songs, replacing them with Please Please Me and Ask Me Why, which Vee Jay had released as a single in 1963. P.S. I Love You, a mainly Paul McCartney composition, would later appear on the Capitol LP The Early Beatles. When CDs were introduced in the mid 1980s it was decided to use the original British versions of all the Beatles' albums, which meant that P.S. I Love You was now on the Please Please Me album in the US. <br /><br /> One final note on the subject of Before the Psychedelic Era: this first hour focused entirely on the musical roots of the era. Obviously there were other factors, but since this is a music show and not a documentary I'll direct you to the following article on our web page to get a broader perspective: https://hermitradio.com/psychedelic/<br /><br />Artist: Tol-Puddle Martyrs<br />Title: Perfect Day<br />Source: CD: Flying In The Dark<br />Writer(s): Peter Rechter<br />Label: Secret Deals<br />Year: 2011<br /> The original Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of farmers in the English village of Tolpuddle who had the temerity to try organizing what amounts to a union in the 19th century. For their efforts they found themselves deported to the penal colony now known as Australia. But that doesn't really concern us. What I wanted to talk about was the original Tol-Puddle Martyrs (note the hyphen), the legendary Australian band that evolved from a group called Peter And The Silhouettes. Well, not exactly. What I really wanted to talk about is the current incarnation of the Tol-Puddle Martyrs. Still led by Peter Rechter, the Martyrs have released a series of CDs since 2007 (including a collection of recordings made by the 60s incarnation of the band). Among those CDs is the 2011 album Flying In The Dark, which contains several excellent tunes such as Perfect Day. Thanks to Peter Rechter himself, we will be hearing tracks from all the Tol-Puddle Martyrs albums from time to time for the forseeable future.<br /> <br />Artist: Big Boy Pete And The Squire<br />Title: Tea<br />Source: CD: Hitmen<br />Writer(s): Miller/Zajkowski<br />Label: Rocket Racket<br />Year: 2013<br /> Once upon a time in the 1960s there was an Englishman named Peter "Big Boy" Miller, who wrote songs that were rejected by not only every British record label, but even his own band. Flash forward to Rochester, NY, in the year 2002, where Christopher Zajkowski, recording as Squires Of The Subterrain, decided to rework some of Miller's songs and record them for an album called Big Boy Treats. Even better, Miller himself flew to Rochester to produce the album. Flash forward again, this time to 2013. Miller and Zajkowski, working together, decide to write new lyrics for a bunch of songs Miller had written in 1967, including the tasty Tea. The songs were included on a CD called Hitmen, released on Zajkowski's Rocket Racket label. <br /><br />Artist: Psychedelic Furs<br />Title: Sister Europe<br />Source: LP: The Psychedelic Furs<br />Writer(s): Psychedelic Furs<br />Label: Columbia<br />Year: 1980<br /> Initially consisting of Richard Butler (vocals), Tim Butler (bass guitar), Duncan Kilburn (saxophone), Paul Wilson (drums) and Roger Morris (guitars), the Psychedelic Furs were formed in 1977 under the name RKO. They soon began calling themselves Radio, then did gigs under two different names, the Europeans and the Psychedelic Furs. By 1979 they had settled on the latter name and expanded to a sextet, adding guitarist John Ashton and replacing Wilson with Vince Ely on drums. The Furs' self-titled debut album, released in 1980, was an immediate hit in Europe and the UK, but airplay in the US was limited mostly to college radio and "alternative" rock stations. The second single released from the album was Sister Europe, a tune that was also the band's concert opener in the early days of their existence. The Psychedelic Furs' greatest claim to fame, however, is probably the song Pretty In Pink. Originally released on their second album, Talk Talk Talk, in 1981, the song was re-recorded for the John Hughes film of the same name in 1986.<br /><br />Artist: Beyond From Within<br />Title: Temper My Desire<br />Source: CD: Beyond From Within<br />Writer(s): Steve Andrews<br />Label: independently released<br />Year: 2015<br /> Back when I came up with the idea of an Advanced Psych segment several years ago I asked for bands to submit material that might fit into the show. One of the results is Beyond From Within, a project from Steve Andrews of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Temper My Desire is from the CD, which is being distributed independently. If you like what you hear let me know and I'll be happy to put you in touch with Mr. Andrews.<br /><br />Artist: Splinter Fish<br />Title: July<br />Source: LP: Splinter Fish<br />Writer(s): Chuck Hawley<br />Label: StreetSound<br />Year: 1989<br /> Albuquerque, New Mexico is in a unique position when it comes to music. Being 400 miles in any direction away from the next major city, it has managed to develop a strong local alternative music scene, starting in the early 1980s with the emergence of bands like the Philisteens, the Cosmic Grackles and Kor-Phu, just to name a few. As the decade progressed, the scene developed in several directions at once, from hard-core punk (Jerry's Kidz being the most prominent), to so-called "hippy" bands like Illegal Aliens and neo-psychedelic groups like the Crawling Walls. By the end of the decade there were several new venues opening up for hard-to-classify bands like A Murder Of Crows, the Mumphries and this week's featured Advanced Psych band Splinterfish. Led by guitarist/vocalist Chuch Hawley, Splinterfish released only one self-titled LP in 1989, but is still fondly remembered as one of the best bands ever to emerge from the Duke city. July, a melodic track from the album, combines an unusual chord structure with whimsical lyrics to create a truly catchy, yet unique, piece.<br /><br />Artist: Geiger Von Müller<br />Title: Origins #2<br />Source: CD: Teddy Zur And The Kwands<br />Writer(s): Geiger Von Müller<br />Label: GVM<br />Year: 2018<br /> Geiger Von Müller is a London-based guitarist who has deconstructed the blues down to one of its most essential elements, slide guitar, and then explored from scratch what can be done with the instrument. The result is tracks like Origins #2, from the album Teddy Zur And The Kwands. The all-instrumental album is accompanied by the beginning of a science fiction story about the Kwands, a powerful race that kidnaps children's stuff toys, including one called Teddy Zur, to work in their factory as slaves. You'll have to find a copy of the CD itself to get a more detailed explanation.<br /><br />Artist: Brian Wilson<br />Title: Smile-excerpt from Movement One "Americana"<br />Source: CD: Brian Wilson Presents Smile<br />Writer(s): Wilson/Parks/Davis/Levy/Gillespie/Smith/Davis<br />Label: Nonesuch<br />Year: 2004<br /> In the early 1960s, Brian Wilson was a pretty happy guy. He had a gift for writing catchy melodies, which, more often than not, he would hand off to a songwriting partner to add lyrics to the tune. He was also proving to be adept at record production, producing not only all of the records (except for the very first one) released by his own band, the Beach Boys, but producing other groups as well, the most successful being Jan And Dean. Starting in 1965, his music began to take a more sophisticated turn, with more complex musical structures and instrumentation. The 1966 Beach Boys LP Pet Sounds is still considered one of the finest pop albums ever released, but even it pales in comparison to what came next. Before Pet Sounds was released, Wilson had begun work on a new song using a modular production technique, recording the song in segments and experimenting with various ways of tying those segments together. The result was the greatest Beach Boys song ever recorded: Good Vibrations. Wilson was not done, however. Even before Good Vibrations was released he had begun work on a new project that would apply the same modular technique used for Good Vibrations to an entire album's worth of material. However, there were problems. For one thing, Good Vibrations was, at that point in time, the most expensive single record ever produced, costing about $50,000 to make (about $386,000 in 2019 dollars). The cost of producing an entire album at that rate would be astronomical. And then there were the expectations. Pet Sounds was considered by many to be a masterpiece; Good Vibrations even more so. How was Wilson ever going to top either of these? There were also time considerations. The popular music world of 1966 was extremely volatile; a sound that was "hot" today might be considered obsolete six months later. The Beach Boys were scheduled to release their next LP in January of 1967. Could Wilson complete what was being called Smile by then? The answer was no. The release date was repeatedly pushed back. Finally, in May of 1967, to put it bluntly, Brian Wilson cracked under the pressure of it all and cancelled the entire Smile project. Four months later, the album Smiley Smile, considered a pale imitation of Smile itself, hit the record racks, along with a truncated single version of Smile's showpiece, a song called Heroes And Villains. It was thought at the time that Wilson had destroyed the original Smile tapes, but over the next couple of decades rumors persisted that those tapes did in fact still exist, backed up by bootleg tapes that purported to be from the Smile sessions. Finally, in 1993, the box set Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys was released with about 30 minutes' worth of material originally recorded for the Smile album. By then Wilson had overcome many of the problems that had plagued him since Smile was cancelled, and had begun to reestablish himself as a solo artist. In 2004, working closely with Darian Sahanaja (of Wondermints, a power pop trio that had backed Wilson on his solo albums) and lyricist Van Dyke Parks, Wilson reworked Smile as a live performace piece. The studio version of Brian Wilson Presents Smile came out that same year. The 21st century version of Smile is divided into three movements. The first movement is subtitled Americana. This week we are hearing the final two-thirds of that movement, picking it up from the third song, Roll Plymouth Rock, which leads into a short piece called Barnyard, followed by an almost as short medley of the tune Old Master Painter (written in 1949 by Haven Gillespie and Beasley Smith) and the traditional You Are My Sunshine, and concludes with Cabin Essence, a song that the Beach Boys had released (with additional overdubs) on their 1969 album 20/20.<br /><br />Artist: Liquid Scene<br />Title: The Mystery Machine<br />Source: Revolutions<br />Writer(s): Becki diGregorio (bodhi)<br />Label: Ziglain<br />Year: 2014<br /> Keeping the spirit of psychedelia alive we have Liquid Scene with a track from their 2014 debut CD Revolutions. The Mystery Machine, the third track on the CD, uses acoustic percussion instruments to set the tone for a piece that combines modern production techiques with bodhi's haunting vocals to create a memorable soundscape without in any way abandoning its late 60s roots. I like this one more every time I hear it. <br /><br />Artist: Dada<br />Title: Dorina<br />Source: CD: Puzzle<br />Writer(s): Calio/Gurney<br />Label: IRS<br />Year: 1992<br /> In the early 1990s I found myself within listening range of a Virginia Beach radio station that called itself The Coast. Unlike other radio stations in the area, each of which had a tight playlist determined by extensive audience research, The Coast was a relatively free-form station that played an eclectic mix of classic, modern and alternative rock. Among the bands that got airplay on The Coast was a new three-piece band from California called Dada. Consisting of guitarist Michael Gurley and bassist Joie Calio (who shared lead vocals) along with drummer Phil Leavitt, Dada made their recording debut with the 1992 album Puzzle. The first single released from the album, Dizz-Knee Land, got a lot of airplay on more mainstream rock stations, but it was the album's opening track, Dorina, that really grabbed my attention when I heard it on The Coast. <br /><br />Artist: Mumphries<br />Title: Wishing And Wondering<br />Source: CD: Thank You, Bonzo<br />Writer(s): Stephen R Webb<br />Label: WayWard<br />Year: 1989<br /> The last track to be recorded at Albuquerque's Bottom Line Studios before they were dismantled and dismembered was Wishing And Wondering, a song decrying man's mistreatment of his home planet. The song was recorded by the Mumphries, an Albuquerque, NM band made up of Jeff "Quincy" Adams (bass, guitar and vocals), Suzan Hagler (guitar, keyboards), John Henry Smith (drums) and Stephen R Webb (guitar, bass, vocals) and was intended to be submitted to various environmentalist organizations. It is still available, if anyone wants to use it. <br /><br />Artist: Ace Of Cups<br />Title: We Can't Go Back Again<br />Source: CD: Ace Of Cups<br />Writer(s): Kaufman/Shae<br />Label: High Moon<br />Year: 2018<br /> According to Ace Of Cups founder Mary Gannon, Denise Kaufman wrote We Can't Go Back Again on keyboards rather than her usual guitar and first presented it to the group at their rehearsal space in Sausalito. Producer Dan Shae helped update the song for inclusion of the 2018 Ace Of Cups album. The lyrics are at once a caution about squandering what little time we have on this planet and an invitation to reach out to others while we still can. <br /> <br /><br /></p>The Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09483191093431160636noreply@blogger.com0