Artist: Love
Title: Hey Joe
Source: CD: Comes In Colours
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Raven
Year: 1966
There are contradictory stories of the origins of the song Hey Joe. Some say it's a traditional folk song, while others have attributed it to various songwriters, including Tim Rose and Dino Valenti (under his birth name Chet Powers). As near as I've been able to determine the song was actually written by an obscure California folk singer named Billy Roberts, who reportedly was performing the song as early as 1958. The song circulated among West Coast musicians over the years and eventually caught the attention of the Byrds' David Crosby. Crosby was unable to convince his bandmates to record the song, although they did include it in their live sets at Ciro's on L.A.'s Sunset Strip. One of the Byrds' roadies, Bryan Maclean, joined up with Arthur Lee's new band, Love, and brought Crosby's version of the song (which had slightly different lyrics than other, more popular versions) with him. In 1966 Love included Hey Joe on their debut album, with Maclean doing the vocals. Meanwhile another L.A. band, the Leaves, recorded their own version of Hey Joe in 1965, but had little success with it. In 1966 they recorded a new version of the song, adding screaming fuzz-drenched lead guitar parts by Bobby Arlin, and Hey Joe finally became a national hit. With two other L.A. bands (and Chicago's Shadows Of Knight) having recorded a song that David Crosby had come to regard as his own, the Byrds finally committed their own version of Hey Joe to vinyl in late 1966 on the Fifth Dimension album, but even Crosby eventually admitted that recording the song was a mistake. Up to this point the song had always been recorded at a fast tempo, but two L.A. songwriters, Sean Bonniwell (of the Music Machine) and folk singer Tim Rose, came up with the idea of slowing the song down. Both the Music Machine and Tim Rose versions of the songs were released on albums in 1966. Jimi Hendrix heard the Rose recording and used it as the basis for his own embellished version of the song, which was released as a single in the UK in late 1966 (although it did not come out in the US until the release of the Are You Experienced album in 1967).
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: And I Like It
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer: Balin/Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
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 what Hot Tuna would sound like but with Balin's vocals instead of Kaukonen's.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: She's Coming Home
Source: CD: Kaleidoscopic Compendium (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Atkins/Miller
Label: Mercury
Year: 1966
Generally speaking, cheatin' songs in 1966 were considered the province of country music. The few exceptions, such as Paul Revere and the Raiders' Steppin' Out, were all told from the victim's point of view. The Blues Magoos, however, turned the entire thing upside down with She's Coming Home, a song about having to break up with one's new girlfriend in the face of the old one returning from...(prison, military duty? The lyrics never make that clear). The unusual nature of the song is in keeping with the cutting edge image of a band that was among the first to use the word psychedelic in an album title and had to have been the first to wear electric suits onstage.
Artist: Cream
Title: Dance The Night Away
Source: LP: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Bruce/Brown
Label: RSO (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
The album Fresh Cream was perhaps the first LP from a rock supergroup, although at the time a more accurate description would have been British blues supergroup. Much of the album was reworking of blues standards by the trio of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, all of whom had established their credentials with various British blues bands. With Disraeli Gears, however, Cream showed a psychedelic side as well as their original blues orientation. Most of the more psychedelic material, such as Dance the Night Away, was from the songwriting team of Bruce and lyricist Pete Brown.
Artist: Doors
Title: End Of The Night
Source: LP: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Many professional-grade reel-to-reel tape decks featured a variable speed control. Most of these only varied the speed by a small percentage; for instance a tape normally running at 15 inches per second could be played back (or recorded) anywhere between 14.5 ips and 15.5 ips simply by twisting a knob. This feature was usually used to correct small variances that would creep up between equipment made by different manufacturers. Sometimes, though, a knob would get turned for some reason or another and then completely forgotten. This was likely what happened with the original stereo master tapes of the Doors first album. A comparison between the stereo and mono versions of the LP shows that the stereo version is pitched about 3.5% lower than the mono version; in musical terms about a half step. As the mono version of the LP was discontinued soon after release, the lower-pitched versions of the songs are all that the public has been hearing for the past 44 years (except for the edited mono version of Light My Fire used by most AM radio stations), despite the fact that the mono version is the actual speed at which the songs were recorded. Recently I came into possession of a slightly scratchy copy of the original mono LP, so we can finally hear End Of The Night as it was originally intended to sound.
Artist: Doors
Title: Horse Lattitudes/Moonlight Ride
Source: LP: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
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. 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 soundtrack provided by the rest of the band.
Artist: Doors
Title: Soul Kitchen
Source: LP: The Doors
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Soul Kitchen was one of the more popular tracks from the Doors' first LP and has been included on at least one Greatest Hits collection. The Greatest Hits version, however, is the slightly slowed down stereo mix, which was the only version in print for nearly 40 years. This week we have the original mono mix, played at the actual speed at which it was recorded.
Artist: Circus Maximus
Title: Travelin' Around
Source: LP: Circus Maximus
Writer: Bob Bruno
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
Circus Maximus was formed in Greenwich Village in 1967 by lead guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Bob Bruno (who wrote most of the band's material) and guitarist/vocalist Jerry Jeff Walker, who went on to much greater success as a songwriter after he left the group for a solo career (he wrote the classic Mr. Bojangles, among other things). The lead vocals on the first Circus Maximus LP were split between the two, with one exception: guitarist Peter Troutner shares lead vocal duties with Bruno on the album's opening track, the high-energy Travelin' Around.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: We Love You
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1967
After the less than stellar chart performance of the LP Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Stones decided to pull out all the stops with a double 'A' sided single. We Love You was their most expensive production ever (as well as the last Rolling Stones record 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.
Artist: Charlatans
Title: Alabama Bound
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70
Writer: trad., arr. The Charlatans
Label: Rhino (original label: Ace/Big Beat)
Year: Recorded 1967, released 1996
Despite being one of the most important bands on the San Francisco scene, the Charlatans did not have much luck in the recording studio. Their first sessions were aborted, the planned LP for Kama Sutra was shelved by the label itself, and the band was overruled in their choice of songs to be released on their first (and only) single issued from the Kama Sutra sessions. In 1967, however, they did manage to get some decent tracks recorded. Unfortunately, those tracks were not released until 1996, and then only in the UK. The centerpiece of the 1967 sessions was this six-and-a-half minute recording of a traditional tune that is considered by many to be the Charlatans' signature song: Alabama Bound.
Artist: Knickerbockers
Title: Lies
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Randall/Charles
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1965
A lot of people thought this was the Beatles recording under a pseudonym when it came out. It wasn't, and I can't help but wonder why anyone would have thought the Beatles had any need to record under a different name and release a song on a second-rate label in the first place. Is it a Richard Bachman kind of thing?
Artist: Music Machine
Title: Talk Talk
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sean Bonniwell
Label: Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year: 1966
The Music Machine was one of the most sophisticated bands to appear on the L.A. club scene in 1966, yet their only major hit, Talk Talk, was deceptively simple and straightforward punk-rock, and still holds up as two of the most intense minutes of rock music ever to crack the top 40 charts.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: Luvin'
Source: CD: I Had Too Much Too Dream (Last Night)
Writer: Lowe/Tulin
Label: Collector's Choice (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
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).
Artist: October Country
Title: My Girlfriend Is A Witch
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: October Country)
Writer: Michael Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the L.A. under-age club scene was winding down, and several now out of work bands were making last (and sometimes only) attempts at garnering hits in the studio. One such band was October Country, whose first release had gotten a fair amount of local airplay, but who had become bogged down trying to come up with a follow-up single. Enter Michael Lloyd, recently split from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and looking to become a record producer. Lloyd not only produced and wrote My Girlfriend Is a Witch, he also ended up playing drums on the record when the band's regular drummer got a bad case of studio jitters.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Feelin' Alright
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Traffic)
Writer: Dave Mason
Label: United Artists
Year: 1968
Although Traffic is generally known as an early staple of progressive FM radio, the band had its share of hit singles in its native England as well. Many of these early hits were written by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mason, who would leave the band in 1968, only to return for the live Welcome To The Canteen album before leaving again, this time for good. One of Mason's most memorable songs was Feelin' Alright, from Traffic's self-titled second LP. The song very quickly became a rock standard when Joe Cocker sped it up and made it his own signature song. Grand Funk Railroad slowed it back down and scored a hit with their version in 1971, and Mason himself got some airplay with a new solo recording of the song later in the decade. Even comedian John Belushi got into the act with his dead-on cover of Cocker's version of the song on the Saturday Night Live TV show.
Artist: Otis Redding
Title: The Happy Song (Dum-Dum)
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Redding/Cropper
Label: Volt
Year: 1968
One of the great tragedies in the history of American music was the plane crash that took the lives of Otis Redding and most of the Bar-Kays in early 1968. In the months following the crash, several "new" Otis Redding singles were released, including The Happy Song (Dum-Dum), co-written by guitarist Steve Cropper.
Artist: Mouse and the Traps
Title: A Public Execution
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Henderson/Weiss
Label: Rhino (original label: Fraternity)
Year: 1965
It's easy to imagine some kid somewhere in Texas inviting his friends over to hear the new Dylan record, only to reveal afterwards that it wasn't Dylan at all, but this band he heard while visiting his cousins down in Tyler. Mouse and the Traps, in fact, got quite a bit of airplay in that part of the state with a series of singles issued in the mid-60s. A Public Execution is unique in that the artist on the label was listed simply as Mouse.
Artist: ? And The Mysterians
Title: Can't Get Enough Of You Baby
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Randle/Linzer
Label: Abkco (original label: Cameo)
Year: 1967
? And The Mysterians' 1966 hit 96 Tears was the last song on the legendary Cameo label to hit the top 10 before the label went bankrupt in 1967 (and was bought by Allan Klein, who still reissues old Cameo-Parkway recordings on his Abkco label). Shortly before that bankruptcy was declared, however, the group released Can't Get Enough Of You Baby, which stalled out in the lower reaches of the charts. The song itself, however, finally achieved massive popularity at the end of the century, when a new version of the tune by Smash Mouth went to the top of the charts.
Artist: Mystery Trend
Title: Johnny Was A Good Boy
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nagle/Cuff
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
The Mystery Trend was a bit of an anomaly. Contemporaries of bands such as the Great! Society and the Charlatans, the Trend always stood a bit apart from the rest of the crowd, playing to an audience that was both a bit more affluent and a bit more "adult" (they were reportedly the house band at a Sausalito strip club). Although they played in the city itself as early as 1965, they did not release their first record until early 1967. The song, Johnny Was A Good Boy, tells the story of a seemingly normal middle-class kid who turns out to be a monster, surprising friends, family and neighbors. The same theme would be used by XTC in the early 1980s in the song No Thugs In Our House, one of the standout tracks from their landmark English Settlement album.
Artist: Turtles
Title: She's My Girl
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
A favorite among the Turtles' members themselves, She's My Girl is full of hidden studio tricks that are barely (if at all) audible on the final recording. Written by the same team as Happy Together, the song is a worthy follow up to that monster hit.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Fool On The Hill
Source: CD: Magical Mystery Tour
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone
Year: 1967
Once again we have a pretty well known Beatle song that has never been played on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era. I could probably do this every week for a year and still have songs left over. Fool On The Hill was never issued as a single, but a cover version by Sergio Mendez and Brasil '67 got airplay on what was then called "middle of the road" radio (e.g. the station your parents listened to in the car when you had to go along with them because you had done something that made them not want to leave you home alone and being in trouble already you knew you didn't have a chance of getting them to change stations).
Artist: Blues Project
Title: You Can't Catch Me
Source: LP: Special Disc Jockey Record
Writer: Chuck Berry
Label: Verve Forecast
Year: 1966
One of the reasons for Chuck Berry's enduring popularity throughout the 1960s (despite a lack of major hits during the decade) was the fact that so many bands covered his 50s hits, often updating them for a 60s audience. Although not as well-known as Roll Over Beethoven or Johnny B. Goode, You Can't Catch Me nonetheless got its fair share of coverage, including versions by the Rolling Stones and the Blues Project (as well as providing John Lennon an opening line for the song Come Together).
Artist: Deepest Blue
Title: Pretty Little Thing
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Shackelford/Johnson
Label: Rhino (original label: Blue Fin)
Year: 1966
Los Angeles, California has long been known for its urban sprawl, and in the mid-1960s it seemed like every one of its dozens of suburbs had at least one semi-professional garage band playing at various parties, bowling alleys, teen clubs and of course, high school gymnasiums. One such band was Deepest Blue, from Pomona, a suburb on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County best known for its race car track. Led by vocalist Earl Shackleford and guitarist Russell Johnson, the group performed locally as the Doves, but for reasons now forgotten recorded first under the name Egyptian Candy and then as Deepest Blue. Both records were released on labels that are considered obscure even by garage-rock standards, and by the end of the decade, the Doves/Egyptian Candy/Deepest Blue were naught but a footnote in L.A. music history.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: No Way Out)
Writer: McElroy/Bennett
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
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 Watchband. While it's true that much of what was released under their name was in truth 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, a song used in the cheapie teenspliotation flick the Love-In and included on the Watchband's first album, is one of those few. Even more ironic is the fact that 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.
This week we feature a set of early tracks from a Canadian band that got its fifteen minutes of fame in the early 70s with a pair of top 40 singles, One Fine Morning and Sunny Days. Lighthouse was formed in Toronto in 1968 by vocalist/drummer Skip Prokop (formerly of the Paupers) and keyboardist/arranger Paul Hoffert. The idea was to combine a rock rhythm section with R&B-style horns and classical-style strings. The first move they made was to recruit guitarist Ralph Cole, whom the Paupers had shared a bill with in New York. The three of them then went about recruiting an assortment of friends, studio musicians and members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, making a demo tape and submitting it to M-G-M records, who immediately offered Lighthouse a contract. The band's manager, however, was able to get a better contract from RCA, and the group set about recording their first album, making their stage debut in Toronto in May of 1969. Among the original 13 members of the band were lead vocalist Vic "Pinky" Davin and saxophonist Howard Shore (who would become the leader of the house band for NBC's Saturday Night Live when that TV show made its debut in 1975). The group managed to record two albums that year, their eponymous debut album and the follow-up Suite Feeling. Both albums were recorded at Toronto's Eastern Sound Studio and released on the RCA Victor label in 1969. Although the group scored a couple of minor hits in their native Canada, they were not able to achieve commercial success in the US, and, after a third LP for RCA, changed labels to GRT, where (after several personnel changes, including lead vocals) they managed to chart two top 40 singles in 1971 and 1972. Tonight we have a set of tunes from the two 1969 Lighthouse albums, featuring the group's original lineup.
Artist: Lighthouse
Title: Follow The Stars
Source: LP: Lighthouse
Writer: Skip Prokop
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Artist: Lighthouse
Title: Could You Be Concerned
Source: LP: Suite Feeling
Writer: Prokop/Hoffert
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Artist: Lighthouse
Title: Never Say Goodbye
Source: LP: Lighthouse
Writer: P. Hoffert/B. Hoffert
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1969
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob
Source: CD: Stonedhenge
Writer: Alvin Lee
Label: Deram
Year: 1969
The BX (base exchange) at Ramstein AFB in Germany used to feature an "album of the month." These were, by and large, LPs by top artists (usually rock bands), that were priced at $1.50, a dollar less than the normal $2.50 album price. As they were generally good albums by bands I had heard of (the Rolling Stones Beggar's Banquet and Through The Past Darkly, for instance), I bought a lot of albums that way. In late 1969 I decided to take a chance on one by a band I had never heard of. Maybe it was the cover art: England's mysterious Stonehenge monument done up in dark red hues. Whatever the reason, I took a chance and plunked down my buck and a half for my first taste of Ten Years After. It was an investment I never regretted. As it turns out, Stonedhenge (note the odd spelling) was actually the band's third LP for Deram, and was somewhat experimental in that it included four short solo tracks, one by each of the band members, placed between songs by the entire group. Guitarist/vocalist/bandleader Alvin Lee's contribution was a short bit of doo-wop played on the guitar with skat vocals in unison with the guitar part. It was appropriately titled Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: You Shook Me/Dazed And Confused
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin
Writer: Dixon/Page
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
I've heard it said that Willie Dixon sued Zeppelin over the use of You Shook Me, which is puzzling to me since Dixon is clearly credited as the songwriter on the label. Still, I don't know enough about copyright laws to say for sure whether this could have happened or not. Dazed & Confused, on the other hand, is a Jimmy Page composition that was performed by the Yardbirds (with different lyrics) as early as 1966.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
SITPE # 1145 (starts 11/10/11)
Artist: Kinks
Title: A Well Respected Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
The Kinks were one of the original British Invasion bands, scoring huge R&B-influenced hits with You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night in 1964. The hits continued in 1965 with more melodic songs like Set Me Free and Tired Of Waiting For You. 1966 saw Ray Davies's songwriting take a satiric turn, as A Well Respected Man amply illustrates. Over the next few years the Kinks would continue to evolve, generally getting decent critical reviews and moderate record sales for their albums. The title of one of those later albums, Muswell Hillbillies, refers to the Davies brothers hometown of Muswell Hill, North London.
Artist: Merry-Go-Round
Title: You're A Very Lovely Woman (originally released on Emitt Rhodes LP: The American Dream)
Source: CD: More Nuggets
Writer: Emmit Rhodes
Label: Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year: 1967
Emitt Rhodes first got noticed in his mid-teens as the drummer for the Palace Guard, a beatle-influenced L.A. band that had a minor hit with the song Like Falling Sugar in 1966. Rhodes would soon leave the guard to front his own band, the Merry-Go-Round, scoring one of the most popular regional hits in L.A. history with the song Live. In 1969 Rhodes decided to try his hand as a solo artist. The problem was that he was, as a member of the Merry-Go-Round, contractually obligated to record one more album for A&M. The album itself, featuring a mixture of Rhodes solo tunes and leftover Merry-Go-Round tracks, sat on the shelf for two years until Rhodes had released a pair of well-received LPs for his new label, at which time A&M finally issued The American Dream as an Emitt Rhodes album. One of the best tracks on The American Dream was You're A Very Lovely Woman, a Merry-Go-Round recording from 1967.
Artist: Hearts And Flowers
Title: Tin Angel (Will You Ever Come Down)
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Larry Murray
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
Hearts and Flowers (featuring a pre-Eagles Bernie Leadon on lead guitar) is known as one of the pioneering country-rock bands, but in 1968 they recorded what could well be regarded as a lost psychedelic masterpiece. Producer Steve Venet reportedly had Sgt. Pepper in mind as he crafted out Larry Murray's Tin Angel over a period of weeks, paying attention to the minutest details of the recording process. The result speaks for itself.
Artist: Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels
Title: One Grain Of Sand
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Crewe/Brown/Bloodworth
Label: Dyna Voice
Year: 1967
Like most Detroit rock bands, Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels was known for it's high-energy rock and roll, cranking out hits like Devil With A Blue Dress On and Sock It To Me! Baby. The band recorded for Bob Crewe's Dyna Voice label. A hard-rockin' band like Ryder's was a bit of a departure for Crewe, who was best known for his work with the Four Seasons and his own instrumental hit Music To Watch Girls By. One Grain Of Sand, released as the B side of Too Many Fish In The Sea, is more in line with the type of song usually associated with Crewe (who co-wrote the tune).
Artist: Doors
Title: You're Lost Little Girl
Source: CD: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The Doors second LP, Strange Days, was stylistically similar to the first, and served notice to the world that this band was going to be around for awhile. Songwriting credit for You're Lost Little Girl (a personal favorite of mine) was given to the entire band, a practice that would continue until the release of The Soft Parade in 1969.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: CD: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
A few years back I picked up the DVD of the Ed Pennebacker telefilm documenting the Monterey International Pop Festival, held in June of 1967. One of the highlights of this early concert film was the Country Joe And The Fish performance of Section 43, an instrumental that they had originally recorded for a 1966 EP and had just re-recorded in stereo for their debut LP, Electric Music For The Mind And Body. The film (like Pennebacker's later film Woodstock), does not follow the actual performance sequence, instead using Section 43 as a backdrop for footage of various people who had slept on the festival grounds going about their morning business.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Source: CD: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
The problem with the Beatles is that they made so many outstanding recordings it's easy to overlook one or two. Such is the case with Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, finally making its Stuck In The Psychedelic Era debut this week.
Artist: Turtles
Title: Grim Reaper Of Love
Source: CD: Happy Together (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Portz/Nichol
Label: Magic (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1966
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 Turtles lead guitarist Al Nichol. 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.
Artist: Who
Title: I Can See For Miles
Source: CD: The Who Sell Out
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1967
I Can See For Miles continued a string of top 10 singles in the UK and was their biggest US hit ever. Pete Townshend, however, was disappointed with the song's performance on the UK charts. He said that the song was the ultimate Who song and as such it should have charted even higher than it did. It certainly was one of the heaviest songs of its time and there is some evidence that it prompted Paul McCartney to come up with Helter Skelter in an effort to take the heaviest song ever title back for the Beatles. What makes the story even more bizarre is that at the time McCartney reportedly had never actually heard I Can See For Miles and was going purely by what he read in a record review. The song is preceeded by a series of jingles produced for Radio London, a pirate radio station operating off the coast with offices in London. One of those (Roto Sound Strings) was actually performed by the Who. The others were made by the same Texas company (now known as TM) that supplied jingles to most US top 40 stations.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Still Raining, Still Dreaming
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Still Raining, Still Dreaming, from the third Jimi Hendrix Experience album Electric Ladyland, is the second half of a live studio recording featuring guest drummer Buddy Miles, who would later join Hendrix and bassist Billy Cox to form Band Of Gypsys. The recording also features Mike Finnegan on organ, Freddie Smith on tenor sax and Larry Faucett on congas, as well as Experience member Noel Redding on bass.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Honky Tonk Women
Source: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1969
After revitalizing their career with Jumpin' Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man in 1968, the Stones delivered the coup-de-grace with one of the biggest hits by anyone ever: the classic Honky Tonk Women. The song was the first single without Brian Jones, who had been found dead in his swimming pool shortly after being kicked out of the band. Jones's replacement, Mick Taylor (fresh from a stint with blues legend John Mayall), plays slide guitar on the track.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: July Morning
Source: LP: Look At Yourself
Writer: Hensley/Byron
Label: Mercury
Year: 1971
Fans of the British rock group Uriah Heep have an ongoing argument over which is the best Heep album; Demons And Wizards, which we heard the Wizard from a couple weeks ago, or its immediate predecessor, Look At Yourself, which features the 10+ minute July Morning. Both albums feature strong vocals by David Byron and songwriting by keyboardist Ken Hensley, as well as tasty guitar licks from Mick Box.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: Trampoline (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Source: LP:Gimme Some Lovin'
Writer: Steve Winwood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1966
The Spencer Davis Group had a series of R&B flavored hit singles in the UK during the mid-1960s, but did not break in the US until 1967, the year that both keyboardist Steve Winwood and his brother, bassist Muff Winwood, left the band. Most of the band's first US LP, Gimme Some Lovin' was made up of those British singles, including Trampoline, which was originally issued as a B side in 1966.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Smiling Phases
Source: CD: Smiling Phases (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Island
Year: 1967
The standard practice in the UK during the 60s was to not include songs that had been released as singles on LPs. This left several songs, such as the 1967 B side Smiling Phases, only available on 45 RPM vinyl until the group's first greatist hits anthology was released. The song has since come to be recognized as one of Traffic's most iconic tunes, and has been covered by such bands as Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Dark Star (single version)
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Hunter/Garcia
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Studio recording. Single version. Shortest Dark Star ever (two minutes and 41 seconds long).
Artist: Spirit
Title: Ice
Source: Clear
Writer: John Locke
Label: Epic
Year: 1969
The third Spirit album found other members of the band writing a greater share of the songs than on the first two LPs, which were written primarily by vocalist Jay Ferguson. One example of this is the instrumental Ice, which opens side two of Clear. The song was written by keyboardist John Locke.
Artist: Great! Society
Title: Free Advice
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Darby Slick
Label: Rhino (original label: North Beach)
Year: 1966
One of the most legendary of San Francisco bands was the Great! Society, which featured a young model named Grace Slick on backup vocals. The group was never really much more than a garage band, and after recording an album's worth of material disbanded when Grace Slick left to replace Signe Anderson in Jefferson Airplane. Although the album was not issued until long after the band had split up (and even then was regarded more for its historical significance than for any musical value it might have), a pair of the recordings were issued as a single in 1966. Free Advice, a song written by Grace Slick's brother-in-law Darby (who also wrote the iconic Somebody To Love), was the A side of that single.
Artist: Move
Title: Flowers In The Rain
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Roy Wood
Label: A&M
Year: 1967
The Move was one of Britain's most popular acts in the mid to late 1960s. That popularity, however, did not extend to North America, where the band failed to chart even a single hit. The closest they came was Flowers In The Rain, a song that made it to the # 2 spot in England and was the very first record played on BBC Radio One (the first legal top 40 station in the UK). Eventually Roy Wood would depart to form his own band, Roy Wood's Wizzard, and the remaining members would evolve into the Electric Light Orchestra.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: A Not Very August Afternoon
Source: CD: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer: Wright/Tartachny/Weisberg/Rhodes
Label: See For Miles (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1968
Although Ultimate Spinach is the usually the band most cited as being part of the infamous "Boss-Town Sound" promoted heavily by M-G-M Records, the Beacon Street Union were the actual architects of the style itself. Already well-established in Boston, the band had actually relocated to New York when they became the first psychedelic band to sign with M-G-M. It was their signing which led to Ultimate Spinach, Orpheus and Earth Opera also getting contracts with one of the stodgiest of the major labels of the era. A Not Very August Afternoon, from the band's second LP, The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens, shows the band already moving beyond their original psychedelic style.
Artist: Knickerbockers
Title: One Track Mind
Source: LP: Nuggets vol. 4-Pop (part two) (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: unknown
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
After successfully fooling many people into thinking that they were the Beatles recording under a different name with their 1965 hit Lies, the Knickerbockers went with a more R&B flavored rocker for their follow up single. Unfortunately their label, the Los Angeles-based Challenge Records, did not have the resources and/or skills to properly promote the single.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: I Am A Rock
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
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.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: D.C.B.A.-25
Source: LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
One of the first songs written by Paul Kantner without a collaborator was this highly listenable tune from Surrealistic Pillow. Kantner says the title simply refers to the basic chord structure of the song, which is built on a two chord verse (D and C) and a two chord bridge (B and A). That actually fits, but what about the 25 part? [insert enigmatic smile here]
Artist: Sagittarius
Title: The Truth Is Not Real
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Present Tense)
Writer: Gary Usher
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1968
After the success of the first Sagittarius single, My World Fell Down, Gary Usher enlisted the aid of Curt Boettcher, who had been working on a studio project of his own called the Ballroom for another production company. Using many of the same studio musicians they created a follow-up single, The Truth Is Not Real. It's interesting to compare Usher's lyrics with those of In My Room, a Brian Wilson tune that Usher had provided lyrics for in 1965.
Artist: Standells
Title: Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
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, the record industry's answer to Ed Wood.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Let's Get Together
Source: CD: All The Good That's Happening
Writer: Jimmy Reed
Label: One Way (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
Despite never having been a major hit, Jimmy Reed's Let's Get Together (not to be confused with the Youngbloods song) was covered by several garage/psychedelic bands, including the Blue Magoos, the Shadows of Knight, and L.A. band the Leaves, appearing on their second LP (their only one for major label Capitol Records).
Artist: Cream
Title: Crossroads
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Wheels Of Fire)
Writer: Robert Johnson
Label: Priority (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
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.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Sunny South Kensington
Source: LP: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
Donovan 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. Although there were no other singles released from either album, the song Sunny South Kensington, which was done in much the same style as Superman, was a highlight of the Mellow Yellow album.
Due to a contractual dispute in the UK between Donovan and Pye Records, neither LP was issued in its original form in Britain.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
One of our top contenders for most-played song of 2011 is the Electric Prunes classic I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night). Lenny Kaye also rated the song high on his list, as he used it as the opening track on his original Nuggets compilation in 1972.
Title: A Well Respected Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
The Kinks were one of the original British Invasion bands, scoring huge R&B-influenced hits with You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night in 1964. The hits continued in 1965 with more melodic songs like Set Me Free and Tired Of Waiting For You. 1966 saw Ray Davies's songwriting take a satiric turn, as A Well Respected Man amply illustrates. Over the next few years the Kinks would continue to evolve, generally getting decent critical reviews and moderate record sales for their albums. The title of one of those later albums, Muswell Hillbillies, refers to the Davies brothers hometown of Muswell Hill, North London.
Artist: Merry-Go-Round
Title: You're A Very Lovely Woman (originally released on Emitt Rhodes LP: The American Dream)
Source: CD: More Nuggets
Writer: Emmit Rhodes
Label: Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year: 1967
Emitt Rhodes first got noticed in his mid-teens as the drummer for the Palace Guard, a beatle-influenced L.A. band that had a minor hit with the song Like Falling Sugar in 1966. Rhodes would soon leave the guard to front his own band, the Merry-Go-Round, scoring one of the most popular regional hits in L.A. history with the song Live. In 1969 Rhodes decided to try his hand as a solo artist. The problem was that he was, as a member of the Merry-Go-Round, contractually obligated to record one more album for A&M. The album itself, featuring a mixture of Rhodes solo tunes and leftover Merry-Go-Round tracks, sat on the shelf for two years until Rhodes had released a pair of well-received LPs for his new label, at which time A&M finally issued The American Dream as an Emitt Rhodes album. One of the best tracks on The American Dream was You're A Very Lovely Woman, a Merry-Go-Round recording from 1967.
Artist: Hearts And Flowers
Title: Tin Angel (Will You Ever Come Down)
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Larry Murray
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
Hearts and Flowers (featuring a pre-Eagles Bernie Leadon on lead guitar) is known as one of the pioneering country-rock bands, but in 1968 they recorded what could well be regarded as a lost psychedelic masterpiece. Producer Steve Venet reportedly had Sgt. Pepper in mind as he crafted out Larry Murray's Tin Angel over a period of weeks, paying attention to the minutest details of the recording process. The result speaks for itself.
Artist: Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels
Title: One Grain Of Sand
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Crewe/Brown/Bloodworth
Label: Dyna Voice
Year: 1967
Like most Detroit rock bands, Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels was known for it's high-energy rock and roll, cranking out hits like Devil With A Blue Dress On and Sock It To Me! Baby. The band recorded for Bob Crewe's Dyna Voice label. A hard-rockin' band like Ryder's was a bit of a departure for Crewe, who was best known for his work with the Four Seasons and his own instrumental hit Music To Watch Girls By. One Grain Of Sand, released as the B side of Too Many Fish In The Sea, is more in line with the type of song usually associated with Crewe (who co-wrote the tune).
Artist: Doors
Title: You're Lost Little Girl
Source: CD: Strange Days
Writer: The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The Doors second LP, Strange Days, was stylistically similar to the first, and served notice to the world that this band was going to be around for awhile. Songwriting credit for You're Lost Little Girl (a personal favorite of mine) was given to the entire band, a practice that would continue until the release of The Soft Parade in 1969.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: CD: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
A few years back I picked up the DVD of the Ed Pennebacker telefilm documenting the Monterey International Pop Festival, held in June of 1967. One of the highlights of this early concert film was the Country Joe And The Fish performance of Section 43, an instrumental that they had originally recorded for a 1966 EP and had just re-recorded in stereo for their debut LP, Electric Music For The Mind And Body. The film (like Pennebacker's later film Woodstock), does not follow the actual performance sequence, instead using Section 43 as a backdrop for footage of various people who had slept on the festival grounds going about their morning business.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Source: CD: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
The problem with the Beatles is that they made so many outstanding recordings it's easy to overlook one or two. Such is the case with Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, finally making its Stuck In The Psychedelic Era debut this week.
Artist: Turtles
Title: Grim Reaper Of Love
Source: CD: Happy Together (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Portz/Nichol
Label: Magic (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1966
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 Turtles lead guitarist Al Nichol. 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.
Artist: Who
Title: I Can See For Miles
Source: CD: The Who Sell Out
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1967
I Can See For Miles continued a string of top 10 singles in the UK and was their biggest US hit ever. Pete Townshend, however, was disappointed with the song's performance on the UK charts. He said that the song was the ultimate Who song and as such it should have charted even higher than it did. It certainly was one of the heaviest songs of its time and there is some evidence that it prompted Paul McCartney to come up with Helter Skelter in an effort to take the heaviest song ever title back for the Beatles. What makes the story even more bizarre is that at the time McCartney reportedly had never actually heard I Can See For Miles and was going purely by what he read in a record review. The song is preceeded by a series of jingles produced for Radio London, a pirate radio station operating off the coast with offices in London. One of those (Roto Sound Strings) was actually performed by the Who. The others were made by the same Texas company (now known as TM) that supplied jingles to most US top 40 stations.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Still Raining, Still Dreaming
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Still Raining, Still Dreaming, from the third Jimi Hendrix Experience album Electric Ladyland, is the second half of a live studio recording featuring guest drummer Buddy Miles, who would later join Hendrix and bassist Billy Cox to form Band Of Gypsys. The recording also features Mike Finnegan on organ, Freddie Smith on tenor sax and Larry Faucett on congas, as well as Experience member Noel Redding on bass.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Honky Tonk Women
Source: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1969
After revitalizing their career with Jumpin' Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man in 1968, the Stones delivered the coup-de-grace with one of the biggest hits by anyone ever: the classic Honky Tonk Women. The song was the first single without Brian Jones, who had been found dead in his swimming pool shortly after being kicked out of the band. Jones's replacement, Mick Taylor (fresh from a stint with blues legend John Mayall), plays slide guitar on the track.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: July Morning
Source: LP: Look At Yourself
Writer: Hensley/Byron
Label: Mercury
Year: 1971
Fans of the British rock group Uriah Heep have an ongoing argument over which is the best Heep album; Demons And Wizards, which we heard the Wizard from a couple weeks ago, or its immediate predecessor, Look At Yourself, which features the 10+ minute July Morning. Both albums feature strong vocals by David Byron and songwriting by keyboardist Ken Hensley, as well as tasty guitar licks from Mick Box.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: Trampoline (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Source: LP:Gimme Some Lovin'
Writer: Steve Winwood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1966
The Spencer Davis Group had a series of R&B flavored hit singles in the UK during the mid-1960s, but did not break in the US until 1967, the year that both keyboardist Steve Winwood and his brother, bassist Muff Winwood, left the band. Most of the band's first US LP, Gimme Some Lovin' was made up of those British singles, including Trampoline, which was originally issued as a B side in 1966.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Smiling Phases
Source: CD: Smiling Phases (originally released as 45 RPM B side)
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Island
Year: 1967
The standard practice in the UK during the 60s was to not include songs that had been released as singles on LPs. This left several songs, such as the 1967 B side Smiling Phases, only available on 45 RPM vinyl until the group's first greatist hits anthology was released. The song has since come to be recognized as one of Traffic's most iconic tunes, and has been covered by such bands as Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Dark Star (single version)
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Hunter/Garcia
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Studio recording. Single version. Shortest Dark Star ever (two minutes and 41 seconds long).
Artist: Spirit
Title: Ice
Source: Clear
Writer: John Locke
Label: Epic
Year: 1969
The third Spirit album found other members of the band writing a greater share of the songs than on the first two LPs, which were written primarily by vocalist Jay Ferguson. One example of this is the instrumental Ice, which opens side two of Clear. The song was written by keyboardist John Locke.
Artist: Great! Society
Title: Free Advice
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Darby Slick
Label: Rhino (original label: North Beach)
Year: 1966
One of the most legendary of San Francisco bands was the Great! Society, which featured a young model named Grace Slick on backup vocals. The group was never really much more than a garage band, and after recording an album's worth of material disbanded when Grace Slick left to replace Signe Anderson in Jefferson Airplane. Although the album was not issued until long after the band had split up (and even then was regarded more for its historical significance than for any musical value it might have), a pair of the recordings were issued as a single in 1966. Free Advice, a song written by Grace Slick's brother-in-law Darby (who also wrote the iconic Somebody To Love), was the A side of that single.
Artist: Move
Title: Flowers In The Rain
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Roy Wood
Label: A&M
Year: 1967
The Move was one of Britain's most popular acts in the mid to late 1960s. That popularity, however, did not extend to North America, where the band failed to chart even a single hit. The closest they came was Flowers In The Rain, a song that made it to the # 2 spot in England and was the very first record played on BBC Radio One (the first legal top 40 station in the UK). Eventually Roy Wood would depart to form his own band, Roy Wood's Wizzard, and the remaining members would evolve into the Electric Light Orchestra.
Artist: Beacon Street Union
Title: A Not Very August Afternoon
Source: CD: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer: Wright/Tartachny/Weisberg/Rhodes
Label: See For Miles (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1968
Although Ultimate Spinach is the usually the band most cited as being part of the infamous "Boss-Town Sound" promoted heavily by M-G-M Records, the Beacon Street Union were the actual architects of the style itself. Already well-established in Boston, the band had actually relocated to New York when they became the first psychedelic band to sign with M-G-M. It was their signing which led to Ultimate Spinach, Orpheus and Earth Opera also getting contracts with one of the stodgiest of the major labels of the era. A Not Very August Afternoon, from the band's second LP, The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens, shows the band already moving beyond their original psychedelic style.
Artist: Knickerbockers
Title: One Track Mind
Source: LP: Nuggets vol. 4-Pop (part two) (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: unknown
Label: Rhino (original label: Challenge)
Year: 1966
After successfully fooling many people into thinking that they were the Beatles recording under a different name with their 1965 hit Lies, the Knickerbockers went with a more R&B flavored rocker for their follow up single. Unfortunately their label, the Los Angeles-based Challenge Records, did not have the resources and/or skills to properly promote the single.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: I Am A Rock
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
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.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: D.C.B.A.-25
Source: LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
One of the first songs written by Paul Kantner without a collaborator was this highly listenable tune from Surrealistic Pillow. Kantner says the title simply refers to the basic chord structure of the song, which is built on a two chord verse (D and C) and a two chord bridge (B and A). That actually fits, but what about the 25 part? [insert enigmatic smile here]
Artist: Sagittarius
Title: The Truth Is Not Real
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Present Tense)
Writer: Gary Usher
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1968
After the success of the first Sagittarius single, My World Fell Down, Gary Usher enlisted the aid of Curt Boettcher, who had been working on a studio project of his own called the Ballroom for another production company. Using many of the same studio musicians they created a follow-up single, The Truth Is Not Real. It's interesting to compare Usher's lyrics with those of In My Room, a Brian Wilson tune that Usher had provided lyrics for in 1965.
Artist: Standells
Title: Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
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, the record industry's answer to Ed Wood.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Let's Get Together
Source: CD: All The Good That's Happening
Writer: Jimmy Reed
Label: One Way (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
Despite never having been a major hit, Jimmy Reed's Let's Get Together (not to be confused with the Youngbloods song) was covered by several garage/psychedelic bands, including the Blue Magoos, the Shadows of Knight, and L.A. band the Leaves, appearing on their second LP (their only one for major label Capitol Records).
Artist: Cream
Title: Crossroads
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Wheels Of Fire)
Writer: Robert Johnson
Label: Priority (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
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.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Sunny South Kensington
Source: LP: Mellow Yellow
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Epic
Year: 1967
Donovan 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. Although there were no other singles released from either album, the song Sunny South Kensington, which was done in much the same style as Superman, was a highlight of the Mellow Yellow album.
Due to a contractual dispute in the UK between Donovan and Pye Records, neither LP was issued in its original form in Britain.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
Source: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits
Writer: Tucker/Mantz
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
One of our top contenders for most-played song of 2011 is the Electric Prunes classic I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night). Lenny Kaye also rated the song high on his list, as he used it as the opening track on his original Nuggets compilation in 1972.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
SITPE # 1144 Playlist (starts 11/3/11)
Artist: Five Americans
Title: I See The Light
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Durrill/Ezell/Rabon
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1965
For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Texas 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 operating out of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. 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.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: You're Gonna Miss Me
Source: CD: The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators
Writer: Roky Erickson
Label: Collectables (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1966
If anyplace outside of California has a legitimate claim to being the birthplace of the psychedelic era, it's Austin, Texas. That's mainly due to the presence of the 13th Floor Elevators, a local band led by Roky Erickson that had the audacity to use an electric jug onstage. Their debut album was the first to actually use the word psychedelic (predating the Blues Magoos' Psychedelic Lollipop by mere weeks). Musically, their leanings were more toward garage-rock than acid-rock, at least on their first album (they got more adventurous with their follow-up album, Easter Everywhere).
Artist: Love
Title: Stephanie Knows Who
Source: CD: Da Capo
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Following up on a strong, if not spectacular debut LP followed by a national hit record (7&7 Is), Love went into the studio with two new members to record their second album, Da Capo. By this point the band had established themselves as the most popular band on the Sunset Strip, and the music on Da Capo is a fair representation of what the group was doing onstage (including the 17 minute Revelation, which takes up the entire second side of the LP). The opening track, Stephanie Knows Who, is hard proto-punk, showcasing the band's tightness with abrupt changes in tempo throughout the song. The tune also features the harpsichord playing of "Snoopy" Pfisterer, who switched over from drums to keyboards for the LP.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Ice Cream Phoenix
Source: LP: Crown Of Creation
Writer: Kaukonen/Cockery
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1968
By 1968, the various songwriting members of Jefferson Airplane were developing divergent styles, although still keeping their songs within the band's established sound. This is evident throughout the band's fourth LP, Crown Of Creation, with songs like Jorma Kaukonen's Ice Cream Phoenix. Parts of the song, such as the opening verse, almost sound like they could be on a Hot Tuna album, yet others, such as the bridge section, are pure Airplane.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Summertime Blues
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Vincebus Eruptum)
Writer: Cochrane/Capehart
Label: Priority (original label: Philips)
Year: 1968
If 1967 was the summer of love, then 1968 was the summer of violence. Framed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, both major anti-establishment movements of the time (civil rights and anti-war) became increasing radicalized and more violent. The hippies gave way to the Yippies, LSD gave way to crystal meth, and there were riots in the streets of several US cities. Against this backdrop Blue Cheer released one of the loudest and angriest recordings ever to grace the top 40: the proto-metal arrangement of Eddie Cochrane's 1958 classic Summertime Blues. It was the perfect soundtrack of its time.
Artist: Blood, Sweat And Tears
Title: Smiling Phases
Source: CD: Blood, Sweat And Tears
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1968
After recording just one album with his new band, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Al Kooper quit to concentrate on his work as staff producer at Columbia Records and to work on solo projects. This left B,S & T looking for a new lead vocalist. They found one of the best: David Clayton Thomas, who helped propel the group to major star status. The first album with Thomas produced no fewer than three top 10 hits: Spinning Wheel, And When I Die, and You Made Me So Very Happy. Additionally, the LP had several outstanding album tracks, such as this cover of Traffic's Smiling Phases.
Artist: Jose Feliciano
Title: You're Takin' Hold Of Me
Source: LP: A Bag Full Of Soul
Writer: Chip Taylor
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Jose Feliciano appeared seemingly out of nowhere in 1969 with his latin-tinged acoustic cover version of the Doors' Light My Fire. The truth is that Feliciano had been recording for RCA since 1965. His success in the early days, however, was mostly with the latino population in Southern California. I recently ran across this copy of Feliciano's second LP for RCA, A Bag Full Of Soul. A friend of mine that grew up in 60s L.A. remembers this album as being in her mother's collection. You're Takin' Hold Of Me, the second track on the album, was written by Chip Taylor, who also wrote the classic Wild Thing.
Artist: Young Rascals
Title: In The Midnight Hour
Source: CD: Time Peace-The Rascals' Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: The Young Rascals)
Writer: Pickett/Cropper
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1966
The Rascals were the premier blue-eyed soul band of the 1960s (in fact, the term blue-eyed soul was coined specifically to describe the Rascals). Originally from New Jersey, the group changed its name to the Young Rascals at the behest of Atlantic Records for reasons that are lost to history before releasing their debut LP. In addition to the hit single Good Lovin', the album boasted several R&B cover songs. The best-known of these was Wilson Pickett's In The Midnight Hour, which was popular enough to be included on the Rascal's Greatest Hits album.
Artist: Corporation
Title: India
Source: CD: The Corporation
Writer: John Coltrane
Label: Repertoire (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1969
A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a listener who works at WITT-FM near Indianapolis, which runs Stuck In The Psychedelic Era on Friday nights. He mentioned a band he had heard on midwestern progressive radio stations in the late 60s called the Corporation, adding that he had recently found a copy of their only album for Capitol on CD. He offered to make me a copy, but, as I am somewhat of a stickler for using legitimate sources for everything I play (i.e. no MP3s or burned copies), I decided to get my local music store (yes, such things do still exist) to order me a copy of the CD instead. The track he mentioned in particular was called India, notable for taking up an entire side of the album. I've since learned that they track was also quite popular in discoteques, particularly those in Germany. The song itself was written by jazz legend John Coltrane, and as far as I know has never been attempted by any other rock band.
Artist: Temptations
Title: Psychedelic Shack
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Whitfield/Strong
Label: Motown
Year: 1970
Starting in 1969 the songwriting/production team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong began to carve out their own company within a company at Motown, producing a series of recordings with a far more psychedelic feel than anything else coming out of the Motor City's biggest label. The most blatantly obvious example of this is the Temptations tune Psychedelic Shack, which graced the charts in 1970. Whitfield would eventually form his own company, taking another Motown act, the Undisputed Truth, with him, but would not be able to equal the success of the songs he and Strong produced for the Temptations, such as 1972's Papa Was A Rolling Stone.
Artist: Nightcrawlers
Title: My Little Black Egg
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stone/Conlon
Label: Rhino (original label: Lee; re-released by Kapp in 1966)
Year: 1965
The Nightcrawlers, from Daytona Beach, Florida, had a series of regional hits in the mid-60s. The only one to hit the national charts was The Little Black Egg, after Kapp Records (a division of MCA) bought the rights to the song and gave it widespread distribution.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: San Franciscan Nights
Source: CD: Winds Of Change
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
In late 1966, after losing several original members over a period of about a year, the original Animals disbanded. Eric Burdon, after releasing one single as a solo artist (but using the Animals name), decided to form a "new" Animals. After releasing a moderately successful single, When I Was Young, the new band appeared at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. While in the area, the band fell in love with the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, during what came to be called the Summer Of Love. The first single to be released from their debut album, Winds Of Change, was a tribute to the city by the bay called San Franciscan Nights. Because of the topicality of the song's subject matter, San Franciscan Nights was not released in the UK as a single. Instead, the song Good Times (which was the US B side of the record), became the new group's biggest UK hit to date (and one of the Animals' biggest UK hits overall). Eventually San Franciscan Nights was released as a single in the UK as well (with a different B side) and ended up doing quite well.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
In 1966 Country Joe and the Fish released their original mono version of an instrumental called Section 43. The song was issued on something called a flexi-disc; a thin sheet of flexible plastic that was inserted in an underground newspaper called Rag Baby. In 1967 the group recorded an expanded stereo version of Section 43 and included it on their debut LP for Vanguard Records, Electric Music For The Mind And Body. It was this arrangement of the piece that the group performed live at the Monterey International Pop Festival that June. While working on this week's playlist I was somewhat surprised to realize that this is the first time I've played the longer stereo version of Section 43 on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (at least since the show went into syndication).
Artist: Seeds
Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1965
One of the first psychedelic singles to hit the L.A. airwaves was the Seeds' debut single, Can't Seem To Make You Mine, released in 1965. The song 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 almost a year.
Artist: Seeds
Title: The Wind Blows Her Hair
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Saxon/Bigelow
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1967
The Wind Blows Her Hair is actually one of the Seeds' better tracks. Unfortunately, by the time it was released the whole concept of Flower Power (which the Seeds were intimately tied to) had become yesterday's news and the single went nowhere.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
Although the song was originally released in 1966, it wasn't until spring of 1967 that the Seeds' best-known song, Pushin' Too Hard, took off nationally. The timing was perfect for me, as the new FM station I was listening to jumped right on it. Pushin' Too Hard is included on practically every collection of psychedelic hits ever compiled. And for good reason. The song is an undisputed classic.
Artist: Flock
Title: Hornschmeyer's Island
Source: CD: Dinosaur Swamps
Writer: The Flock
Label: BGO (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1970
The second Flock album was a bit too experimental to be commercially successful, as Hornschmeyer's Island (with it's sped up vocal chorus and abrupt changes) demonstrates. One interesting feature of the album was its packaging. Instead of the standard 12" X 12" cover artwork, Dinosaur Swamps featured a gatefold cover that was two feet high and one foot wide, with large pterodactyls dominating the upper (front) portion and tiny figures representing the band members standing on a beach at the bottom. In addition, every song title on the album referenced something visual appearing on either the cover itself or in the center spread, which was an interior of a ship captain's cabin, with a map spread out on a table. Hornschmeyer's Island is one of the locations shown on that map.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: …And The Gods Made Love/Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
At the beginning of the year you may remember I made a resolution to play more Hendrix. Unlike most New Year's resolutions, this one was actually pretty easy to keep. In fact, I have so far kept the resolution so well that Hendrix is in the running for most played artist of 2011 on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (and is virtually guaranteed to make the top 5 list on the New Year's show). This week Hendrix gets three more points with an artist set taken entirely from the Electric Ladyland album, released in 1968. Although listed as separate tracks on the cover, the first two songs on the album, And The Gods Made Love and Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland), actually run together without a break on the album itself (in fact, the entire first and third sides of Electric Ladyland were pressed without the traditional spaces between songs on the vinyl). Like many of the songs on Electric Ladyland, Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) features Hendrix playing the bass parts himself, a move that did not go over well with Experience bassist Noel Redding.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Still Raining, Still Dreaming
Source: CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
During the height of their popularity, reel to reel tapes could be formatted in one of two ways: half-track or quarter-track (well, technically there was also full-track, but that format was pretty much abandoned with the advent of stereo recording in the 1950s). The quarter-track format was used for most home systems, as a stereo recording would use two of the tracks, allowing the tape to be recorded in the opposite direction on the remaining two tracks. Editing was virtually impossible with quarter-track recordings, as any physical manipulation of the tape would have an adverse effect on whatever was recorded on the other side of the the tape. All professional uses of reel-to-reel tape, on the other hand, used the half-track format. Not only was the sound quality better (due to wider tracks), but the single-directional nature of the tape made editing a simple matter of cutting and splicing sections of tape together. In the mid-70s I did just that to two tracks on Electric Ladyland to recreate the original live studio performance of Rainy Day Dream Away/Still Raining, Still Dreaming. Unfortunately I have no idea where that tape is now, and even if I did I doubt that I can find a working half-track machine to play it on anyway (although I suppose I could do the same thing on a computer if I was so inclined). Instead, we have the second part of the divided performance, which includes several guest musicians, including Mike Finnegan on organ, Freddie Smith on tenor sax and Larry Faucett on congas. Although Noel Redding plays bass on the track, drummer Mitch Mitchell is not heard on the recording. Instead, Buddy Miles, who would join up with Hendrix for his Band of Gypsys the following year, plays drums on the track. (Oh, and you should hear the Beatles' Revolution 9 played backwards on half-track tape).
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away)
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away) from the Electric Ladyland album is the longest work created purely in the studio by Jimi Hendrix, with a running time of over 16 minutes. The piece starts with tape effects that lead into the song's main guitar rift. The vocals and drums join in to tell a science fiction story set in a future world where the human race has had to move underwater in order to survive some unspecified catastrophe. After a couple verses, the piece goes into a long unstructured section made up mostly of guitar effects before returning to the main theme and closing out with more effects that combine volume control and stereo panning to create a circular effect. As is the case with several tracks on Electric Ladyland, 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away) features Hendrix on both guitar and bass, with Mitch Mitchell on drums and special guest Chris Wood (from Traffic) on flute.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: CD: Face To Face
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Sanctuary (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
My family got its first real stereo just in time for me to catch this song at the peak of its popularity. My school had just gone into split sessions and all my classes were over by one o'clock, which gave me the chance to explore the world of top 40 radio for a couple hours every day without the rest of the family telling me to turn it down (or off).
Title: I See The Light
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Durrill/Ezell/Rabon
Label: Rhino (original label: Abnak)
Year: 1965
For years I was under the impression that the Five Americans were a Texas band, mainly due to Abnak Records having a Texas 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 operating out of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. 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.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: You're Gonna Miss Me
Source: CD: The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators
Writer: Roky Erickson
Label: Collectables (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1966
If anyplace outside of California has a legitimate claim to being the birthplace of the psychedelic era, it's Austin, Texas. That's mainly due to the presence of the 13th Floor Elevators, a local band led by Roky Erickson that had the audacity to use an electric jug onstage. Their debut album was the first to actually use the word psychedelic (predating the Blues Magoos' Psychedelic Lollipop by mere weeks). Musically, their leanings were more toward garage-rock than acid-rock, at least on their first album (they got more adventurous with their follow-up album, Easter Everywhere).
Artist: Love
Title: Stephanie Knows Who
Source: CD: Da Capo
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
Following up on a strong, if not spectacular debut LP followed by a national hit record (7&7 Is), Love went into the studio with two new members to record their second album, Da Capo. By this point the band had established themselves as the most popular band on the Sunset Strip, and the music on Da Capo is a fair representation of what the group was doing onstage (including the 17 minute Revelation, which takes up the entire second side of the LP). The opening track, Stephanie Knows Who, is hard proto-punk, showcasing the band's tightness with abrupt changes in tempo throughout the song. The tune also features the harpsichord playing of "Snoopy" Pfisterer, who switched over from drums to keyboards for the LP.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Ice Cream Phoenix
Source: LP: Crown Of Creation
Writer: Kaukonen/Cockery
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1968
By 1968, the various songwriting members of Jefferson Airplane were developing divergent styles, although still keeping their songs within the band's established sound. This is evident throughout the band's fourth LP, Crown Of Creation, with songs like Jorma Kaukonen's Ice Cream Phoenix. Parts of the song, such as the opening verse, almost sound like they could be on a Hot Tuna album, yet others, such as the bridge section, are pure Airplane.
Artist: Blue Cheer
Title: Summertime Blues
Source: CD: Best of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Vincebus Eruptum)
Writer: Cochrane/Capehart
Label: Priority (original label: Philips)
Year: 1968
If 1967 was the summer of love, then 1968 was the summer of violence. Framed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, both major anti-establishment movements of the time (civil rights and anti-war) became increasing radicalized and more violent. The hippies gave way to the Yippies, LSD gave way to crystal meth, and there were riots in the streets of several US cities. Against this backdrop Blue Cheer released one of the loudest and angriest recordings ever to grace the top 40: the proto-metal arrangement of Eddie Cochrane's 1958 classic Summertime Blues. It was the perfect soundtrack of its time.
Artist: Blood, Sweat And Tears
Title: Smiling Phases
Source: CD: Blood, Sweat And Tears
Writer: Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1968
After recording just one album with his new band, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Al Kooper quit to concentrate on his work as staff producer at Columbia Records and to work on solo projects. This left B,S & T looking for a new lead vocalist. They found one of the best: David Clayton Thomas, who helped propel the group to major star status. The first album with Thomas produced no fewer than three top 10 hits: Spinning Wheel, And When I Die, and You Made Me So Very Happy. Additionally, the LP had several outstanding album tracks, such as this cover of Traffic's Smiling Phases.
Artist: Jose Feliciano
Title: You're Takin' Hold Of Me
Source: LP: A Bag Full Of Soul
Writer: Chip Taylor
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
Jose Feliciano appeared seemingly out of nowhere in 1969 with his latin-tinged acoustic cover version of the Doors' Light My Fire. The truth is that Feliciano had been recording for RCA since 1965. His success in the early days, however, was mostly with the latino population in Southern California. I recently ran across this copy of Feliciano's second LP for RCA, A Bag Full Of Soul. A friend of mine that grew up in 60s L.A. remembers this album as being in her mother's collection. You're Takin' Hold Of Me, the second track on the album, was written by Chip Taylor, who also wrote the classic Wild Thing.
Artist: Young Rascals
Title: In The Midnight Hour
Source: CD: Time Peace-The Rascals' Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: The Young Rascals)
Writer: Pickett/Cropper
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1966
The Rascals were the premier blue-eyed soul band of the 1960s (in fact, the term blue-eyed soul was coined specifically to describe the Rascals). Originally from New Jersey, the group changed its name to the Young Rascals at the behest of Atlantic Records for reasons that are lost to history before releasing their debut LP. In addition to the hit single Good Lovin', the album boasted several R&B cover songs. The best-known of these was Wilson Pickett's In The Midnight Hour, which was popular enough to be included on the Rascal's Greatest Hits album.
Artist: Corporation
Title: India
Source: CD: The Corporation
Writer: John Coltrane
Label: Repertoire (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1969
A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a listener who works at WITT-FM near Indianapolis, which runs Stuck In The Psychedelic Era on Friday nights. He mentioned a band he had heard on midwestern progressive radio stations in the late 60s called the Corporation, adding that he had recently found a copy of their only album for Capitol on CD. He offered to make me a copy, but, as I am somewhat of a stickler for using legitimate sources for everything I play (i.e. no MP3s or burned copies), I decided to get my local music store (yes, such things do still exist) to order me a copy of the CD instead. The track he mentioned in particular was called India, notable for taking up an entire side of the album. I've since learned that they track was also quite popular in discoteques, particularly those in Germany. The song itself was written by jazz legend John Coltrane, and as far as I know has never been attempted by any other rock band.
Artist: Temptations
Title: Psychedelic Shack
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Whitfield/Strong
Label: Motown
Year: 1970
Starting in 1969 the songwriting/production team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong began to carve out their own company within a company at Motown, producing a series of recordings with a far more psychedelic feel than anything else coming out of the Motor City's biggest label. The most blatantly obvious example of this is the Temptations tune Psychedelic Shack, which graced the charts in 1970. Whitfield would eventually form his own company, taking another Motown act, the Undisputed Truth, with him, but would not be able to equal the success of the songs he and Strong produced for the Temptations, such as 1972's Papa Was A Rolling Stone.
Artist: Nightcrawlers
Title: My Little Black Egg
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stone/Conlon
Label: Rhino (original label: Lee; re-released by Kapp in 1966)
Year: 1965
The Nightcrawlers, from Daytona Beach, Florida, had a series of regional hits in the mid-60s. The only one to hit the national charts was The Little Black Egg, after Kapp Records (a division of MCA) bought the rights to the song and gave it widespread distribution.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: San Franciscan Nights
Source: CD: Winds Of Change
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Repertoire (original label: M-G-M)
Year: 1967
In late 1966, after losing several original members over a period of about a year, the original Animals disbanded. Eric Burdon, after releasing one single as a solo artist (but using the Animals name), decided to form a "new" Animals. After releasing a moderately successful single, When I Was Young, the new band appeared at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. While in the area, the band fell in love with the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, during what came to be called the Summer Of Love. The first single to be released from their debut album, Winds Of Change, was a tribute to the city by the bay called San Franciscan Nights. Because of the topicality of the song's subject matter, San Franciscan Nights was not released in the UK as a single. Instead, the song Good Times (which was the US B side of the record), became the new group's biggest UK hit to date (and one of the Animals' biggest UK hits overall). Eventually San Franciscan Nights was released as a single in the UK as well (with a different B side) and ended up doing quite well.
Artist: Country Joe and the Fish
Title: Section 43
Source: LP: Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Writer: Joe McDonald
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1967
In 1966 Country Joe and the Fish released their original mono version of an instrumental called Section 43. The song was issued on something called a flexi-disc; a thin sheet of flexible plastic that was inserted in an underground newspaper called Rag Baby. In 1967 the group recorded an expanded stereo version of Section 43 and included it on their debut LP for Vanguard Records, Electric Music For The Mind And Body. It was this arrangement of the piece that the group performed live at the Monterey International Pop Festival that June. While working on this week's playlist I was somewhat surprised to realize that this is the first time I've played the longer stereo version of Section 43 on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (at least since the show went into syndication).
Artist: Seeds
Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1965
One of the first psychedelic singles to hit the L.A. airwaves was the Seeds' debut single, Can't Seem To Make You Mine, released in 1965. The song 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 almost a year.
Artist: Seeds
Title: The Wind Blows Her Hair
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Saxon/Bigelow
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1967
The Wind Blows Her Hair is actually one of the Seeds' better tracks. Unfortunately, by the time it was released the whole concept of Flower Power (which the Seeds were intimately tied to) had become yesterday's news and the single went nowhere.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Pushin' Too Hard
Source: CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino
Year: 1966
Although the song was originally released in 1966, it wasn't until spring of 1967 that the Seeds' best-known song, Pushin' Too Hard, took off nationally. The timing was perfect for me, as the new FM station I was listening to jumped right on it. Pushin' Too Hard is included on practically every collection of psychedelic hits ever compiled. And for good reason. The song is an undisputed classic.
Artist: Flock
Title: Hornschmeyer's Island
Source: CD: Dinosaur Swamps
Writer: The Flock
Label: BGO (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1970
The second Flock album was a bit too experimental to be commercially successful, as Hornschmeyer's Island (with it's sped up vocal chorus and abrupt changes) demonstrates. One interesting feature of the album was its packaging. Instead of the standard 12" X 12" cover artwork, Dinosaur Swamps featured a gatefold cover that was two feet high and one foot wide, with large pterodactyls dominating the upper (front) portion and tiny figures representing the band members standing on a beach at the bottom. In addition, every song title on the album referenced something visual appearing on either the cover itself or in the center spread, which was an interior of a ship captain's cabin, with a map spread out on a table. Hornschmeyer's Island is one of the locations shown on that map.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: …And The Gods Made Love/Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
At the beginning of the year you may remember I made a resolution to play more Hendrix. Unlike most New Year's resolutions, this one was actually pretty easy to keep. In fact, I have so far kept the resolution so well that Hendrix is in the running for most played artist of 2011 on Stuck in the Psychedelic Era (and is virtually guaranteed to make the top 5 list on the New Year's show). This week Hendrix gets three more points with an artist set taken entirely from the Electric Ladyland album, released in 1968. Although listed as separate tracks on the cover, the first two songs on the album, And The Gods Made Love and Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland), actually run together without a break on the album itself (in fact, the entire first and third sides of Electric Ladyland were pressed without the traditional spaces between songs on the vinyl). Like many of the songs on Electric Ladyland, Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) features Hendrix playing the bass parts himself, a move that did not go over well with Experience bassist Noel Redding.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Still Raining, Still Dreaming
Source: CD: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Legacy (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
During the height of their popularity, reel to reel tapes could be formatted in one of two ways: half-track or quarter-track (well, technically there was also full-track, but that format was pretty much abandoned with the advent of stereo recording in the 1950s). The quarter-track format was used for most home systems, as a stereo recording would use two of the tracks, allowing the tape to be recorded in the opposite direction on the remaining two tracks. Editing was virtually impossible with quarter-track recordings, as any physical manipulation of the tape would have an adverse effect on whatever was recorded on the other side of the the tape. All professional uses of reel-to-reel tape, on the other hand, used the half-track format. Not only was the sound quality better (due to wider tracks), but the single-directional nature of the tape made editing a simple matter of cutting and splicing sections of tape together. In the mid-70s I did just that to two tracks on Electric Ladyland to recreate the original live studio performance of Rainy Day Dream Away/Still Raining, Still Dreaming. Unfortunately I have no idea where that tape is now, and even if I did I doubt that I can find a working half-track machine to play it on anyway (although I suppose I could do the same thing on a computer if I was so inclined). Instead, we have the second part of the divided performance, which includes several guest musicians, including Mike Finnegan on organ, Freddie Smith on tenor sax and Larry Faucett on congas. Although Noel Redding plays bass on the track, drummer Mitch Mitchell is not heard on the recording. Instead, Buddy Miles, who would join up with Hendrix for his Band of Gypsys the following year, plays drums on the track. (Oh, and you should hear the Beatles' Revolution 9 played backwards on half-track tape).
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away)
Source: LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away) from the Electric Ladyland album is the longest work created purely in the studio by Jimi Hendrix, with a running time of over 16 minutes. The piece starts with tape effects that lead into the song's main guitar rift. The vocals and drums join in to tell a science fiction story set in a future world where the human race has had to move underwater in order to survive some unspecified catastrophe. After a couple verses, the piece goes into a long unstructured section made up mostly of guitar effects before returning to the main theme and closing out with more effects that combine volume control and stereo panning to create a circular effect. As is the case with several tracks on Electric Ladyland, 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away) features Hendrix on both guitar and bass, with Mitch Mitchell on drums and special guest Chris Wood (from Traffic) on flute.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Sunny Afternoon
Source: CD: Face To Face
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Sanctuary (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1966
My family got its first real stereo just in time for me to catch this song at the peak of its popularity. My school had just gone into split sessions and all my classes were over by one o'clock, which gave me the chance to explore the world of top 40 radio for a couple hours every day without the rest of the family telling me to turn it down (or off).
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
SITPE # 1143 Playlist (starts 10/27/11)
It's Halloween weekend, and in the second hour we have quite a few songs for the occassion. The first hour, on the other hand, is made up almost entirely of tracks that have haven't played on Stuck In The Psychedelic Era since the show started being syndicated (the exceptions being the Byrds' Thoughts And Words and the first of the two songs that make up the Jefferson Airplane suite The War Is Over).
Artist: Them
Title: Mystic Eyes
Source: LP: Them
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Parrot
Year: 1965
The opening track of the first Them album (2nd track on the US version) was a song that started off as an extended studio jam, with vocalist Van Morrison playing harmonica and ad-libbing vocals as the band played behind him. Luckily the tape recorder was on for the whole thing and, with a little editing the track became the group's second biggest US hit, Mystic Eyes.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Help, I'm A Rock/It Can't Happen Here
Source: CD: Freak Out
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Verve
Year: 1966
Help, I'm A Rock and its follow up track It Can't Happen Here are among the best-known Frank Zappa compositions on the first Mothers Of Invention album, Freak Out. The phrase Help I'm A Rock itself comes across as a kind of mantra, with various verbal bits (including Zappa's own take on the Sunset Strip riot) going on around a repeating bass/drum/guitar riff. The song eventually leads into It Can't Happen Here, an avant-garde piece composed almost entirely of vocal tracks. The title is a play on a popular misconception in many American cities that the various kinds of civil unrest (and occasional violence) going on could only happen in someone else's town.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Thoughts And Words
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: Chris Hillman
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
In addition to recording the most commercially successful Dylan cover songs, the Byrds had a wealth of original material over the course of several albums. On their first album, these came primarily from guitarists Gene Clark and Jim (now Roger) McGuinn, with David Crosby emerging as the group's third songwriter on the band's second album. After Clark's departure, bassist Chris Hillman began writing as well, and had three credits as solo songwriter on the group's fourth LP, Younger Than Yesterday. Hillman credits McGuinn, however, for coming up with the distinctive reverse-guitar break midway through the song.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Watch Yourself
Source: CD: Volume 3-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Robert Yeazel
Label: Sundazed (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Although the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band usually wrote their own material, they occassionally drew from outside sources. One example is Watch Yourself, written by Robert Yeazel, who would go on to join Sugarloaf in time for their second LP, Spaceship Earth, writing much of the material on that album.
Artist: Flock
Title: Clown
Source: LP: The Flock
Writer: The Flock
Label: Columbia
Year: 1969
The Flock's 1969 debut album featured liner notes by British blues guru John Mayall, who called them the best band in America. Despite this stellar recommendation, the Flock (one of two bands with horn sections from the city of Chicago making their recording debut on Columbia Records in 1969) was unable to attract a large audience and disbanded after only two LPs. Violinist Jerry Goodman would go on to be a founding member of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Morning Will Come (alternate mono mix)
Source: CD: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus
Writer: Randy California
Label: Epic/Legacy
Year: 1970
When Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus was released, the band members told Rolling Stone magazine that if the album did sell significantly better than their previous couple of LPs, the group would probably disband. As it turned out, the album did reasonably well. Despite this vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes left the band soon after to help form Jo Jo Gunne. In the years since, Twelve Dreams has come to be regarded as a landmark album, bridging the gap between the psychedelic era and the progressive rock movement of the early 1970s. Several tracks were considered for single release, including Morning Will Come. This alternate mono mix of the song puts a greater emphasis on the horns and vocals than the album version.
Artist: Hollies
Title: Look Through Any Window
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Gouldman/Silverman
Label: Imperial
Year: 1965
Although the Hollies were far more popular in their native England than in the US, they did have their fair share of North American hits. The first Hollies tune to crack the US top 40 was Look Through Any Window, released in December of 1965 and peaking at #33 in early 1966. The song did even better in Canada, going all the way to the #3 spot.
Artist: Association
Title: Along Comes Mary
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Almer
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1966
The Association are best known for a series of love ballads and light pop songs such as Cherish, Never My Love and Windy. Many of these records were a product of the L.A. studio scene and featured several members of the Wrecking Crew, the studio musicians who played on dozens of records in the late 60s and early 70s. The first major Association hit, however, featured the band members playing all the instruments themselves. Produced by Curt Boettcher, who would soon join Gary Usher's studio project Sagittarius, Along Comes Mary shows that the Association was quite capable of recording a classic without any help from studio musicians.
Artist: Mojo Men
Title: Sit Down, I Think I Love You
Source: LP: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Mojo Men started off in Rochester, NY in the early 60s. After a stint in south Florida playing mostly frat houses, the band moved to San Francisco, where they scored a contract with Reprise Records and recorded the garage-rock classic She's My Baby. Around late 1966-early 1967 the Mojo Men picked up a new drummer. Jan Errico, formerly of the Vejtables, brought with her a softer, more folky kind of sound, as well as the high vocal harmonies that are evident in this recording of the Buffalo Springfield tune Sit Down I Think I Love You, a minor hit during the summer of love.
Artist: Cream
Title: Four Until Late
Source: LP: Fresh Cream
Writer: Robert Johnson
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
By the time Cream was formed, guitarist Eric Clapton had already established himself as one of the best guitarists in the world. He had not, however, done much singing, as the bands he had worked with all had strong vocalists: Keith Relf with the Yardbirds and John Mayall with the Bluesbreakers. With Cream, however, Clapton finally got a chance to do some vocals of his own. Most of these are duets with bassist Jack Bruce, who handled the bulk of Cream's lead vocals. Clapton did get to sing lead on a few Cream songs, however. One of the earliest ones was the band's updated version of Robert Johnson's Four Until Late, from the Fresh Cream album.
Artist: Derek and the Dominos
Title: Layla
Source: CD: Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Writer: Clapton/Gordon
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
After the breakup of Blind Faith after one album, Eric Clapton set about forming a new band that would be more of a group effort than a collection of stars working together. To this end he found musicians that, although quite talented, were not particularly well-known outside of the British blues community. At first the group deliberately downplayed Clapton's presence in the band in order to stay focused on making music as a collective, although even in the beginning it was clear that Clapton would be the group's lead vocalist. The new group had trouble coming up with a name, however, and (half-jokingly) told one stage MC that their name was Del and the Dynamos. The MC misheard the name and introduced the new band as Derek and the Dominos. The name stuck. Meanwhile, Clapton had recently discovered a new band out of Atlanta, Georgia, calling itself the Allman Brothers band and was so impressed by guitarist Duane Allman that he asked him to join the Dominos. Allman, however, declined Clapton's offer, choosing to stick with the band he had co-founded with brother Gregg. Duane Allman did, however, sit in with Derek and the Dominos in the studio for several tracks on their upcoming double LP. One of the tracks where Allman's distinctive slide guitar stands out is the album's title song, Layla.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: The War Is Over
Source: LP: After Bathing At Baxters
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
The songs on the third Jefferson Airplane album, After Bathing At Baxter's, are grouped into suites of two or three songs apiece. Most of the suites mix songs by different songwriters; the sole exception is The War Is Over, which is made up of two Paul Kantner tunes, Martha and Wild Thyme. The War Is Over is also the shortest of the five suites on After Bathing At Baxter's, clocking in at about six and a half minutes.
Our second hour this week starts off with a set built around an All Hallow's Eve theme. Since this show is being heard just a few days before Halloween, I figured it would be an appropriate thing to do. Although the initial set is loosely based on a traditional druidic theme, we do get into some of the more Americanized concept of Halloween later in the hour, with songs like Disguises, Cauldron and of course, Frankenstein. In between we have sets made up mostly of old favorites from 1966 and 1967. First, though, let the witchery begin!
Artist: Sonics
Title: The Witch
Source: LP: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gerald Roslie
Label: Rhino (original label: Etiquette)
Year: 1964
The #1 selling single in the history of the Pacific Northwest was this tune by one of the founding bands of the Seattle music scene. The Sonics were as raw as any punk rock band of the seventies, as The Witch proves beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: The Wizard
Source: LP: Demons And Wizards
Writer: Hensley/Clarke
Label: Mercury
Year: 1972
Although Uriah Heep had been around since 1969, they didn't get much attention in the US until their Demons And Wizards album in 1972, which included their biggest hit, Easy Livin'. The Wizard, which opens the album, was the first of two singles released from the album. The song itself is a semi-acoustic tune about a wizard whose name is never given, but is thought to be either Merlin or Gandalf.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Season Of The Witch
Source: CD: Sunshine On The Mountain (originally released on LP: Sunshine Superman)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Sony (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
From 1966 we have an album track from Donovan's Sunshine Superman album. Due to a contract dispute with Pye Records, the album was not released in the UK until 1967, and then only as an LP combining tracks from both the Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow albums. Season of the Witch has since been covered by an impressive array of artists, including Al Kooper and Stephen Stills (on the Super Session album) and Vanilla Fudge.
Artist: Black Sabbath
Title: The Wizard
Source: CD: Black Sabbath
Writer: Osborne/Iommi/Butler/Ward
Label: Creative Sounds (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1970
Often cited as the first true heavy metal album, Black Sabbath's debut LP features one of my all-time favorite album covers (check out the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era Facebook page) as well as several outstanding tracks. One of the best of these is The Wizard, which was reportedly inspired by the Gandalf character from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Artist: October Country
Title: My Girlfriend Is A Witch
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Michael Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the L.A. under-age club scene was winding down, and several now out of work bands were making last (and sometimes only) attempts at garnering hits in the studio. One such band was October Country, whose first release had gotten a fair amount of local airplay, but who had become bogged down trying to come up with a follow-up single. Enter Michael Lloyd, recently split from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and looking to become a record producer. Lloyd not only produced and wrote My Girlfriend Is a Witch, he also ended up playing drums on the record when the band's regular drummer got a bad case of studio jitters.
Artist: Who
Title: Disguises
Source: LP: Magic Bus (originally released in UK on EP: Ready Steady Who)
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Reaction)
Year: 1966
After a successful appearance on the British TV show Ready Steady Go (the UK's answer to American Bandstand), the Who released an EP featuring mostly cover songs such as Bucket T and the Batman theme. Two tracks on the record, however, were Who originals: a new version of Circles (a song that originally appeared on the My Generation album) and Disguises, which made its debut as the lead track of the EP. The song did not appear in the US until the Magic Bus album, released in 1968. When MCA issued a remastered version of A Quick One in the 1990s, the entire contents of the EP (except Circles) were included as bonus tracks on the CD.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Da Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
In the fall of 1966 my parents took by brother and me to a drive-in movie on the outskirts of Aurora, Colorado to see The Russians Are Coming and The 10th Victim (don't ask me why I remember that). In an effort to extend their season past the summer months, that particular drive-in was pioneering a new technology that used a low-power radio transmitter (on a locally-unused frequency) to broadcast the audio portion of the films so that people could keep their car windows rolled all the way up (and presumably stay warm) instead of having to roll the window partway down to accomodate the hanging speakers that were attached to posts next to where each car was parked. Before the first movie and between films music was pumped through the speakers (and over the transmitter). Of course, being fascinated by all things radio, I insisted that my dad use the car radio as soon as we got settled in. I was immediately blown away by a song that I had not heard on either of Denver's two top 40 radio stations. That song was Love's 7&7 Is, and it was my first inkling that there were some great songs on the charts that were being ignored by local stations. I finally heard the song again the following spring, when a local FM station that had been previously used to simulcast a full-service AM station began running a "top 100" format a few hours a day.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1967
The Blues Magoos (original spelling: Bloos) were either the first or second band to use the word psychedelic in an album title. Both they and the 13th Floor Elevators released their debut albums in 1966 and it is unclear which one actually came out first. What's not in dispute is the fact that Psychedelic Lollipop far outsold The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. One major reason for this was the fact that (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was a huge national hit in early 1967, which helped album sales considerably. Despite having a unique sound and a look to match (including electric suits), the Magoos were unable to duplicate the success of Nothin' Yet on subsequent releases, partially due to Mercury's pairing of two equally marketable songs on the band's next single without indicating to stations which one they were supposed to be playing.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: I'm A Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Winwood/Miller
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
The Spencer Davis Group, featuring Steve and Muff Winwood, was one of the UK's most successful white R&B bands of the sixties, cranking out a steady stream of hit singles. Two of them, the iconic Gimme Some Lovin' and I'm A Man, were also major hits in the US, the latter being the last song to feature the Winwood brothers. Muff Winwood became a successful record producer. The group itself continued on for several years, but were never able to duplicate their earlier successes. As for Steve Winwood, he quickly faded off into obscurity, never to be heard from again. Except as the leader of Traffic. And a member of Blind Faith. And Traffic again. And some critically-acclaimed collaborations in the early 1980s with Asian musicians. Oh yeah, and a few major solo hits like Higher Love and Roll With It in the late 80s. Other than that, nothing.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Waterloo Sunset
Source: CD: Something Else
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
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.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue
Source: CD: Easter Everywhere
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Charly (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1967
When the 13th Floor Elevators left their native Texas to do a series of gigs on the West Coast, the local media's reaction was basically "good riddance". After the band's successful California appearances (and a hit record with You're Gonna Miss Me), they returned to a hero's welcome by that same media that had derided the Elevators as a bunch of degenerate drug addicts just weeks before. Buoyed by this new celebrity, the band set out to record its masterpiece, Easter Everywhere. Although much of the album featured original material, there were a couple of cover tunes. Most notable was the inclusion of (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue, a Bob Dylan tune that had been recently recorded by San Jose's Chocolate Watchband.
Artist: E-Types
Title: Put The Clock Back On The Wall
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
Speaking of San Jose bands, we have the "E" types, originally from Salinas, California, which at the time was known for it's sulfiric smell by travelers along US 101. As many people from Salinas apparently went to nearby San Jose as often as possible, the "E" Types became regulars on the local scene, eventually landing a contract with Tower Records and Ed Cobb, who also produced the Standells and the Chocolate Watch Band. The Bonner/Gordon songwriting team were just a couple months away from getting huge royalty checks from the Turtles' Happy Together when Put The Clock Back On The Wall was released in early 1967. The song takes its title from a popular phrase of the time. After a day or two of losing all awareness of time (and sometimes space) it was time to put the clock back on the wall, or get back to reality if you prefer.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Pleasant Valley Sunday
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.)
Writer: Goffin/King
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
After making it a point to play their own instruments on their third LP, Headquarters, the Monkees decided to once again use studio musicians for their next album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD. The difference was that this time the studio musicians would be recording under the supervision of the Monkees themselves rather than Don Kirschner and the array of producers he had lined up for the first two Monkees LPs. The result was an album that many critics consider the group's best effort. The only single released was Pleasant Valley Sunday, a song penned by the husband and wife team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and backed by the band's remake of the Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart song Words, which had been recorded the previous year by the Leaves. Although both songs ended up making the charts, it was Pleasant Valley Sunday that got the most airplay and is considered by many to be Monkees' greatest achievement.
Artist: Edgar Winter Group
Title: Frankenstein (edited version)
Source: LP: Vintage Rock (originally released on LP: They Only Come Out At Night. Edited version released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Edgar Winter
Label: K-Tel (original label: Epic)
Year: 1973
A real monster hit.
Artist: Fifty Foot Hose
Title: Cauldron
Source: LP: Cauldron
Writer: BlossoM/Marcheschi/Kimsey
Label: Limelight
Year: 1968
Although New York is generally considered the epicenter for avant-garde rock, there were things happening out on the West Coast as well, including the United States Of America (led by an expatriot Manhattanite) in Los Angeles and Fifty Foot Hose in San Francisco. Fifty Foot Hose featured Cork Marcheschi's homemade electronic instruments and the unique vocal style of Nancy Blossom. This week's show closes with the title track of Fifty Foot Hose's only LP, Cauldron. The group disbanded when all of the members except Marcheschi left to join the cast of the musical Hair. Nancy Blossom herself played the female lead, Sheila, in the San Francisco production of the rock musical.
Artist: Them
Title: Mystic Eyes
Source: LP: Them
Writer: Van Morrison
Label: Parrot
Year: 1965
The opening track of the first Them album (2nd track on the US version) was a song that started off as an extended studio jam, with vocalist Van Morrison playing harmonica and ad-libbing vocals as the band played behind him. Luckily the tape recorder was on for the whole thing and, with a little editing the track became the group's second biggest US hit, Mystic Eyes.
Artist: Mothers of Invention
Title: Help, I'm A Rock/It Can't Happen Here
Source: CD: Freak Out
Writer: Frank Zappa
Label: Verve
Year: 1966
Help, I'm A Rock and its follow up track It Can't Happen Here are among the best-known Frank Zappa compositions on the first Mothers Of Invention album, Freak Out. The phrase Help I'm A Rock itself comes across as a kind of mantra, with various verbal bits (including Zappa's own take on the Sunset Strip riot) going on around a repeating bass/drum/guitar riff. The song eventually leads into It Can't Happen Here, an avant-garde piece composed almost entirely of vocal tracks. The title is a play on a popular misconception in many American cities that the various kinds of civil unrest (and occasional violence) going on could only happen in someone else's town.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Thoughts And Words
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer: Chris Hillman
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1967
In addition to recording the most commercially successful Dylan cover songs, the Byrds had a wealth of original material over the course of several albums. On their first album, these came primarily from guitarists Gene Clark and Jim (now Roger) McGuinn, with David Crosby emerging as the group's third songwriter on the band's second album. After Clark's departure, bassist Chris Hillman began writing as well, and had three credits as solo songwriter on the group's fourth LP, Younger Than Yesterday. Hillman credits McGuinn, however, for coming up with the distinctive reverse-guitar break midway through the song.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: Watch Yourself
Source: CD: Volume 3-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Robert Yeazel
Label: Sundazed (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Although the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band usually wrote their own material, they occassionally drew from outside sources. One example is Watch Yourself, written by Robert Yeazel, who would go on to join Sugarloaf in time for their second LP, Spaceship Earth, writing much of the material on that album.
Artist: Flock
Title: Clown
Source: LP: The Flock
Writer: The Flock
Label: Columbia
Year: 1969
The Flock's 1969 debut album featured liner notes by British blues guru John Mayall, who called them the best band in America. Despite this stellar recommendation, the Flock (one of two bands with horn sections from the city of Chicago making their recording debut on Columbia Records in 1969) was unable to attract a large audience and disbanded after only two LPs. Violinist Jerry Goodman would go on to be a founding member of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Morning Will Come (alternate mono mix)
Source: CD: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus
Writer: Randy California
Label: Epic/Legacy
Year: 1970
When Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus was released, the band members told Rolling Stone magazine that if the album did sell significantly better than their previous couple of LPs, the group would probably disband. As it turned out, the album did reasonably well. Despite this vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes left the band soon after to help form Jo Jo Gunne. In the years since, Twelve Dreams has come to be regarded as a landmark album, bridging the gap between the psychedelic era and the progressive rock movement of the early 1970s. Several tracks were considered for single release, including Morning Will Come. This alternate mono mix of the song puts a greater emphasis on the horns and vocals than the album version.
Artist: Hollies
Title: Look Through Any Window
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Gouldman/Silverman
Label: Imperial
Year: 1965
Although the Hollies were far more popular in their native England than in the US, they did have their fair share of North American hits. The first Hollies tune to crack the US top 40 was Look Through Any Window, released in December of 1965 and peaking at #33 in early 1966. The song did even better in Canada, going all the way to the #3 spot.
Artist: Association
Title: Along Comes Mary
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Almer
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1966
The Association are best known for a series of love ballads and light pop songs such as Cherish, Never My Love and Windy. Many of these records were a product of the L.A. studio scene and featured several members of the Wrecking Crew, the studio musicians who played on dozens of records in the late 60s and early 70s. The first major Association hit, however, featured the band members playing all the instruments themselves. Produced by Curt Boettcher, who would soon join Gary Usher's studio project Sagittarius, Along Comes Mary shows that the Association was quite capable of recording a classic without any help from studio musicians.
Artist: Mojo Men
Title: Sit Down, I Think I Love You
Source: LP: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Mojo Men started off in Rochester, NY in the early 60s. After a stint in south Florida playing mostly frat houses, the band moved to San Francisco, where they scored a contract with Reprise Records and recorded the garage-rock classic She's My Baby. Around late 1966-early 1967 the Mojo Men picked up a new drummer. Jan Errico, formerly of the Vejtables, brought with her a softer, more folky kind of sound, as well as the high vocal harmonies that are evident in this recording of the Buffalo Springfield tune Sit Down I Think I Love You, a minor hit during the summer of love.
Artist: Cream
Title: Four Until Late
Source: LP: Fresh Cream
Writer: Robert Johnson
Label: Atco
Year: 1966
By the time Cream was formed, guitarist Eric Clapton had already established himself as one of the best guitarists in the world. He had not, however, done much singing, as the bands he had worked with all had strong vocalists: Keith Relf with the Yardbirds and John Mayall with the Bluesbreakers. With Cream, however, Clapton finally got a chance to do some vocals of his own. Most of these are duets with bassist Jack Bruce, who handled the bulk of Cream's lead vocals. Clapton did get to sing lead on a few Cream songs, however. One of the earliest ones was the band's updated version of Robert Johnson's Four Until Late, from the Fresh Cream album.
Artist: Derek and the Dominos
Title: Layla
Source: CD: Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Writer: Clapton/Gordon
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
After the breakup of Blind Faith after one album, Eric Clapton set about forming a new band that would be more of a group effort than a collection of stars working together. To this end he found musicians that, although quite talented, were not particularly well-known outside of the British blues community. At first the group deliberately downplayed Clapton's presence in the band in order to stay focused on making music as a collective, although even in the beginning it was clear that Clapton would be the group's lead vocalist. The new group had trouble coming up with a name, however, and (half-jokingly) told one stage MC that their name was Del and the Dynamos. The MC misheard the name and introduced the new band as Derek and the Dominos. The name stuck. Meanwhile, Clapton had recently discovered a new band out of Atlanta, Georgia, calling itself the Allman Brothers band and was so impressed by guitarist Duane Allman that he asked him to join the Dominos. Allman, however, declined Clapton's offer, choosing to stick with the band he had co-founded with brother Gregg. Duane Allman did, however, sit in with Derek and the Dominos in the studio for several tracks on their upcoming double LP. One of the tracks where Allman's distinctive slide guitar stands out is the album's title song, Layla.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: The War Is Over
Source: LP: After Bathing At Baxters
Writer: Paul Kantner
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1967
The songs on the third Jefferson Airplane album, After Bathing At Baxter's, are grouped into suites of two or three songs apiece. Most of the suites mix songs by different songwriters; the sole exception is The War Is Over, which is made up of two Paul Kantner tunes, Martha and Wild Thyme. The War Is Over is also the shortest of the five suites on After Bathing At Baxter's, clocking in at about six and a half minutes.
Our second hour this week starts off with a set built around an All Hallow's Eve theme. Since this show is being heard just a few days before Halloween, I figured it would be an appropriate thing to do. Although the initial set is loosely based on a traditional druidic theme, we do get into some of the more Americanized concept of Halloween later in the hour, with songs like Disguises, Cauldron and of course, Frankenstein. In between we have sets made up mostly of old favorites from 1966 and 1967. First, though, let the witchery begin!
Artist: Sonics
Title: The Witch
Source: LP: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Gerald Roslie
Label: Rhino (original label: Etiquette)
Year: 1964
The #1 selling single in the history of the Pacific Northwest was this tune by one of the founding bands of the Seattle music scene. The Sonics were as raw as any punk rock band of the seventies, as The Witch proves beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: The Wizard
Source: LP: Demons And Wizards
Writer: Hensley/Clarke
Label: Mercury
Year: 1972
Although Uriah Heep had been around since 1969, they didn't get much attention in the US until their Demons And Wizards album in 1972, which included their biggest hit, Easy Livin'. The Wizard, which opens the album, was the first of two singles released from the album. The song itself is a semi-acoustic tune about a wizard whose name is never given, but is thought to be either Merlin or Gandalf.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Season Of The Witch
Source: CD: Sunshine On The Mountain (originally released on LP: Sunshine Superman)
Writer: Donovan Leitch
Label: Sony (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
From 1966 we have an album track from Donovan's Sunshine Superman album. Due to a contract dispute with Pye Records, the album was not released in the UK until 1967, and then only as an LP combining tracks from both the Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow albums. Season of the Witch has since been covered by an impressive array of artists, including Al Kooper and Stephen Stills (on the Super Session album) and Vanilla Fudge.
Artist: Black Sabbath
Title: The Wizard
Source: CD: Black Sabbath
Writer: Osborne/Iommi/Butler/Ward
Label: Creative Sounds (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1970
Often cited as the first true heavy metal album, Black Sabbath's debut LP features one of my all-time favorite album covers (check out the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era Facebook page) as well as several outstanding tracks. One of the best of these is The Wizard, which was reportedly inspired by the Gandalf character from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Artist: October Country
Title: My Girlfriend Is A Witch
Source: CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Michael Lloyd
Label: Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year: 1968
By 1968 the L.A. under-age club scene was winding down, and several now out of work bands were making last (and sometimes only) attempts at garnering hits in the studio. One such band was October Country, whose first release had gotten a fair amount of local airplay, but who had become bogged down trying to come up with a follow-up single. Enter Michael Lloyd, recently split from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and looking to become a record producer. Lloyd not only produced and wrote My Girlfriend Is a Witch, he also ended up playing drums on the record when the band's regular drummer got a bad case of studio jitters.
Artist: Who
Title: Disguises
Source: LP: Magic Bus (originally released in UK on EP: Ready Steady Who)
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Reaction)
Year: 1966
After a successful appearance on the British TV show Ready Steady Go (the UK's answer to American Bandstand), the Who released an EP featuring mostly cover songs such as Bucket T and the Batman theme. Two tracks on the record, however, were Who originals: a new version of Circles (a song that originally appeared on the My Generation album) and Disguises, which made its debut as the lead track of the EP. The song did not appear in the US until the Magic Bus album, released in 1968. When MCA issued a remastered version of A Quick One in the 1990s, the entire contents of the EP (except Circles) were included as bonus tracks on the CD.
Artist: Love
Title: 7&7 Is
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 9-Acid Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Da Capo)
Writer: Arthur Lee
Label: Rhino (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1966
In the fall of 1966 my parents took by brother and me to a drive-in movie on the outskirts of Aurora, Colorado to see The Russians Are Coming and The 10th Victim (don't ask me why I remember that). In an effort to extend their season past the summer months, that particular drive-in was pioneering a new technology that used a low-power radio transmitter (on a locally-unused frequency) to broadcast the audio portion of the films so that people could keep their car windows rolled all the way up (and presumably stay warm) instead of having to roll the window partway down to accomodate the hanging speakers that were attached to posts next to where each car was parked. Before the first movie and between films music was pumped through the speakers (and over the transmitter). Of course, being fascinated by all things radio, I insisted that my dad use the car radio as soon as we got settled in. I was immediately blown away by a song that I had not heard on either of Denver's two top 40 radio stations. That song was Love's 7&7 Is, and it was my first inkling that there were some great songs on the charts that were being ignored by local stations. I finally heard the song again the following spring, when a local FM station that had been previously used to simulcast a full-service AM station began running a "top 100" format a few hours a day.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source: CD: More Nuggets (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer: Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1967
The Blues Magoos (original spelling: Bloos) were either the first or second band to use the word psychedelic in an album title. Both they and the 13th Floor Elevators released their debut albums in 1966 and it is unclear which one actually came out first. What's not in dispute is the fact that Psychedelic Lollipop far outsold The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. One major reason for this was the fact that (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet was a huge national hit in early 1967, which helped album sales considerably. Despite having a unique sound and a look to match (including electric suits), the Magoos were unable to duplicate the success of Nothin' Yet on subsequent releases, partially due to Mercury's pairing of two equally marketable songs on the band's next single without indicating to stations which one they were supposed to be playing.
Artist: Spencer Davis Group
Title: I'm A Man
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer: Winwood/Miller
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
The Spencer Davis Group, featuring Steve and Muff Winwood, was one of the UK's most successful white R&B bands of the sixties, cranking out a steady stream of hit singles. Two of them, the iconic Gimme Some Lovin' and I'm A Man, were also major hits in the US, the latter being the last song to feature the Winwood brothers. Muff Winwood became a successful record producer. The group itself continued on for several years, but were never able to duplicate their earlier successes. As for Steve Winwood, he quickly faded off into obscurity, never to be heard from again. Except as the leader of Traffic. And a member of Blind Faith. And Traffic again. And some critically-acclaimed collaborations in the early 1980s with Asian musicians. Oh yeah, and a few major solo hits like Higher Love and Roll With It in the late 80s. Other than that, nothing.
Artist: Kinks
Title: Waterloo Sunset
Source: CD: Something Else
Writer: Ray Davies
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
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.
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue
Source: CD: Easter Everywhere
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Charly (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1967
When the 13th Floor Elevators left their native Texas to do a series of gigs on the West Coast, the local media's reaction was basically "good riddance". After the band's successful California appearances (and a hit record with You're Gonna Miss Me), they returned to a hero's welcome by that same media that had derided the Elevators as a bunch of degenerate drug addicts just weeks before. Buoyed by this new celebrity, the band set out to record its masterpiece, Easter Everywhere. Although much of the album featured original material, there were a couple of cover tunes. Most notable was the inclusion of (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue, a Bob Dylan tune that had been recently recorded by San Jose's Chocolate Watchband.
Artist: E-Types
Title: Put The Clock Back On The Wall
Source: CD: Even More Nuggets (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
Speaking of San Jose bands, we have the "E" types, originally from Salinas, California, which at the time was known for it's sulfiric smell by travelers along US 101. As many people from Salinas apparently went to nearby San Jose as often as possible, the "E" Types became regulars on the local scene, eventually landing a contract with Tower Records and Ed Cobb, who also produced the Standells and the Chocolate Watch Band. The Bonner/Gordon songwriting team were just a couple months away from getting huge royalty checks from the Turtles' Happy Together when Put The Clock Back On The Wall was released in early 1967. The song takes its title from a popular phrase of the time. After a day or two of losing all awareness of time (and sometimes space) it was time to put the clock back on the wall, or get back to reality if you prefer.
Artist: Monkees
Title: Pleasant Valley Sunday
Source: CD: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released on LP: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD.)
Writer: Goffin/King
Label: Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year: 1967
After making it a point to play their own instruments on their third LP, Headquarters, the Monkees decided to once again use studio musicians for their next album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, LTD. The difference was that this time the studio musicians would be recording under the supervision of the Monkees themselves rather than Don Kirschner and the array of producers he had lined up for the first two Monkees LPs. The result was an album that many critics consider the group's best effort. The only single released was Pleasant Valley Sunday, a song penned by the husband and wife team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and backed by the band's remake of the Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart song Words, which had been recorded the previous year by the Leaves. Although both songs ended up making the charts, it was Pleasant Valley Sunday that got the most airplay and is considered by many to be Monkees' greatest achievement.
Artist: Edgar Winter Group
Title: Frankenstein (edited version)
Source: LP: Vintage Rock (originally released on LP: They Only Come Out At Night. Edited version released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Edgar Winter
Label: K-Tel (original label: Epic)
Year: 1973
A real monster hit.
Artist: Fifty Foot Hose
Title: Cauldron
Source: LP: Cauldron
Writer: BlossoM/Marcheschi/Kimsey
Label: Limelight
Year: 1968
Although New York is generally considered the epicenter for avant-garde rock, there were things happening out on the West Coast as well, including the United States Of America (led by an expatriot Manhattanite) in Los Angeles and Fifty Foot Hose in San Francisco. Fifty Foot Hose featured Cork Marcheschi's homemade electronic instruments and the unique vocal style of Nancy Blossom. This week's show closes with the title track of Fifty Foot Hose's only LP, Cauldron. The group disbanded when all of the members except Marcheschi left to join the cast of the musical Hair. Nancy Blossom herself played the female lead, Sheila, in the San Francisco production of the rock musical.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
SITPE # 1142 Playlist (Starts 10/20/11)
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Alligator/Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)
Source: CD: Anthem Of The Sun
Writer: Lesh/McKernan/Hunter/Garcia/Kreutzmann/Weir
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1968
After a debut album that took about a week to record (and that the band was unanimously unhappy with) the Grateful Dead took their time on their second effort, Anthem Of The Sun. After spending a considerable amount of time in three different studios on two coasts and not getting the sound they wanted (and shedding their original producer along the way) the Dead came to the conclusion that the only way to make an album that sounded anywhere near what the band sounded like onstage was to use actual recordings of their performances and combine them with the studio tracks they had been working on. Side two of the album, which includes the classic Alligator and the more experimental Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks), is basically an enhanced live performance, with new vocal tracks added in the studio. Alligator itself is notable as the first Grateful Dead composition to feature the lyrics of Robert Hunter, who would become Jerry Garcia's main collaborator for many many years.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released
Writer: Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
I once knew someone from San Jose who had an original copy of the single version of The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), the opening track from the first Dead album. It was totally worn out from being played a few hundred times, though.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: That's It For The Other One
Source: CD: Anthem Of The Sun
Writer: Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir/Constanten
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1968
The second Grateful Dead album, Anthem Of The Sun, opens with a suite called That's It For The Other One. Although it plays as one continuous piece of music, the suite was banded on the LP into separate tracks in order to increase songwriting royalties. Unlike the better-known Alligator, which is a live performance with studio overdubs, That's It For The Other One is a studio creation supplemented by live recordings. The final section of the piece was provided by future member Tom Constanten, whose contributions to the Dead were always more prominent in the studio than onstage. Anthem Of The Sun itself was the first Grateful Dead album to feature drummer Mickey Hart, who would be an off-and-on member of the band throughout their existence.
Artist: Taos
Title: Putting My Faith In You
Source: LP: Taos
Writer: Taos
Label: Mercury
Year: 1969
When going through the WEOS vinyl archives a couple years ago I ran across an album called simply Taos. After doing a considerable amount of research I learned that the album came out in 1969. That's all I found out. Like many albums of the time, the LP was packaged in a gatefold sleeve. Unlike most LPs of the time, there were no songwriting credits given, either on the album cover or the label itself. In fact, other than the names of the songs themselves, there is no text at all. Instead, we are treated to several pictures of (presumably) the band members taken mostly at Taos Pueblo in northern New Mexico. As there was a commune in the area that had been established by disgruntled hippys that had fled the fast-deteriorating Haight-Ashbury scene the previous year, it's a good possibility that the band was from that commune, although I have no documentation to that end. Musically, Taos certainly sounds like an extension of the San Francisco sound, as Putting My Faith In You demonstrates. If anyone has any information about this band, feel free to drop me a line, either through the comments button at www.hermitradio.com or on the Stuck In The Psychedelic Era Facebook page wall.
Artist: Wishbone Ash
Title: Queen Of Torture
Source: 45 RPM single B side (originally released on LP: Wishbone Ash)
Writer: Upton/Turner/Turner/Powell
Label: Decca
Year: 1970
One of the first bands to use dual lead guitars was Wishbone Ash. When the band's original guitarist had to leave, auditions were held, but the remaining members couldn't come to a consensus between the two finalists so they kept both of them, or so the story goes. Queen Of Torture, from their 1969 debut album, shows just how well the two guitars meshed.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
The origins of the song Hey Joe are surrounded in mystery. Various writers have been given credit for the tune, including Chet Powers, aka Dino Valenti, who wrote Get Together, but David Crosby claimed the song was actually an old folk tune dating back to the 19th century that he himself had popularized as a member of the Byrds before the Leaves got ahold of it. Regardless of where the song came from, the Leaves version was the first to be released as a single and is generally considered the definitive fast version of the song. In Britain it was the slower version favored by the Jimi Hendrix Experience that became a hit, using an arrangement pioneered by songwriter Tim Rose and the Music Machine's Sean Bonniwell.
Artist: Mystery Trend
Title: Johnny Was A Good Boy
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nagle/Cuff
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
The Mystery Trend was a bit of an anomaly. Contemporaries of bands such as the Great! Society and the Charlatans, the Trend always stood a bit apart from the rest of the crowd, playing to an audience that was both a bit more affluent and a bit more "adult" (they were reportedly the house band at a Sausalito strip club). Although they played in the city itself as early as 1965, they did not release their first record until early 1967. The song, Johnny Was A Good Boy, tells the story of a seemingly normal middle-class kid who turns out to be a monster, surprising friends, family and neighbors. The same theme would be used by XTC in the early 1980s in the song No Thugs In Our House, one of the standout tracks from their landmark English Settlement album.
Artist: Harry Nilsson
Title: Let The Good Times Roll
Source: LP: Nilsson Schmilsson
Writer: Lee
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1971
By 1971, Harry Nilsson (usually known only by his last name) had established himself as both a singer (Everybody's Talkin', for the film Midnight Cowboy), and a songwriter (the Monkee's Cuddly Toy and Daddy's Song, among others). One of his most successful solo albums was Nilsson Schmilsson, which included the hits Without You and the psychedelic Jump Into The Fire. Despite his growing reputation as a singer/songwriter, Nilsson continued to record an occassion cover song, such as the 50s Shirley and Lee hit Let The Good Times Roll. It may have been this love of 50s music that led to him becoming close friends and drinking buddies with John Lennon, who recorded an entire album of 50s cover tunes in the early 70s.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Conquistador
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1972
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.
Artist: Pheremones
Title: N.G.R.I.
Source: unreleased
Writer: Ed Carlson
Label: n/a
Year: 1987
I usually don't say anything here about the instrumental tracks I use at the end of each hour, but I thought I'd make an exception, since this is only the second time I've used Ed Carlson's N.G.R.I. (which stands for No Good Rotten Instrumental). Ed was lead guitarist for the Pheremones, a band I sat in with on bass for a few months before starting on the Electric Dream Project (which is where most of the instrumentals I use on the show come from).
Artist: James Brown
Title: Papa's Got A Brand New Bag
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: James Brown
Label: Ripete
Year: 1965
Although he had been recording since the late 1950s, it wasn't until the release of Papa's Got A Brand New Bag in 1965 that James Brown achieved stardom. The song was recorded in less than an hour in a Charlotte, NC studio on the way to a performance. On the master tape Brown can be heard saying that they had a hit record on their hands. The record itself is actually a half-step higher in pitch than the master tape, which was deliberately sped up to give the song a bit of extra punch when the record was mastered.
Artist: Otis Redding
Title: The Glory Of Love
Source: LP: The Dock Of The Bay (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Hill
Label: Volt
Year: Original single release: 1967; LP release: 1968
Otis Redding's dream was to fill the gap left by the untimely death of Sam Cooke in 1964. By the summer of 1967 it looked like that dream was about to become a reality. Following a landmark performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June, Redding released his new version of a song that had originally been recorded by Benny Goodman in 1936 and had been redone numerous times over the years, including a version by the Five Keys that had spent eight weeks in the number one spot on the R&B charts in 1951. Sadly, Redding's life would be cut short the following winter when the plane carrying the singer, along with several members of the Bar-Kays, went down in a snowstorm, killing all aboard. After Redding's death, several tracks that had not yet appeared on an album were collected on an LP called The Dock Of The Bay, released on the Volt label (part of the Stax Records group) in 1968.
Artist: Lemon Pipers
Title: Green Tambourine
Source: CD: The Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Leka/Pinz
Label: Priority (original label: Buddah)
Year: 1967
After a promising start signing respected artists like Johnny Winter and Captain Beefheart, Buddah Records quickly acquired a reputation as the "bubble gum" label, with a string of hits by groups like the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. As a result, Green Tambourine is often dismissed as mere fluff, when in fact it is a legitimate piece of psychedelia, recorded at the end of 1967, before the advent of the bubble gum era (although the song is sometimes cited as the first bubble gum hit).
Artist: Cream
Title: Tales Of Brave Ulysses
Source: CD: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Clapton/Sharp
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Cream was one of the first bands to break British tradition and release singles that were also available as album cuts. This tradition likely came about because 45 RPM records (both singles and extended play 45s) tended to stay in print indefinitely in the UK, unlike in the US, where a hit single usually had a shelf life of around 4-6 months then disappeared forever. When the Disraeli Gears album was released, however, the song Strange Brew, which leads off the LP, was released in Europe as a single. The B side of that single was Tales Of Brave Ulysses, which opens side two of the album.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: My Best Friend
Source: CD: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
Although drummer Skip Spence had left Jefferson Airplane after the group's first LP, he did leave a song behind. My Best Friend was actually released as a single before Somebody To Love, making it the first single released from the Surrealistic Pillow album. Spence, meanwhile, was about to make a big splash as a founding member of Moby Grape.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: As Kind As Summer
Source: LP: Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Markley/Harris/Bryant
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
The first time I heard this I jumped up to see what was wrong with my turntable. A real gotcha moment.
Artist: Them
Title: Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen)
Source: LP: Now And Them
Writer: Tom Lane
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
After Van Morrison left Them to pursue a solo career, the band returned to Belfast, where they recruited Kenny McDowell to be the group's new lead vocalist. They then relocated to California, where they cut two albums for Tower Records. The second of the two albums featured songs written by the husband and wife team of Tom Pulley and Vivian Lane. The first LP, entitled Now And Them, featured songs from a variety of sources, including one song, Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen), written by Lane himself.
Artist: Things To Come
Title: Come Alive
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Russ Ward
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Come Alive is a solid piece of garage rock, written by drummer Russ Ward, who would go on to become one of L.A.'s most sought after studio drummers using the name Russ Kunkel.
Artist: Emerson, Lake And Palmer
Title: The Endless Enigma (part one)
Source: CD: Trilogy
Writer: Emerson/Lake
Label: Atlantic (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1972
Just for something completely different we have a track from the third Emerson, Lake and Palmer album, Trilogy.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: A Most Peculiar Man
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
You would think that a high school on a US military facility would be inclined to use the most staunchly traditional teaching methods known to man. Surprisingly, though, this was not the case at General H. H. Arnold High School in Weisbaden, Germany. In fact, the English department was teaching some sort of new system that dispensed with terms such as verb and noun and replaced them with a more conceptual approach to language. What I best remember about my Freshman English class is the day that my rather Bohemian teacher (he wore sandals to class!), actually brought in a copy of the Sounds Of Silence and had us dissect two songs from the album, Richard Cory and A Most Peculiar Man. We spent several classes discussing the similarities (they both deal with a suicide by someone representing a particular archetype) and differences (the methods used and the archetypes themselves) between the songs. I have forgotten everything else about that class and its so-called revolutionary approach, but those two songs have stayed with me my entire life. I guess that teacher (whose name I have forgotten) was on to something.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Lady Jane
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
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 was for B sides that got a significant amount of airplay to be rated seperately from the A side of the single, and Lady Jane managed to climb to the # 24 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 (Mother's Little Helper peaked at # 8).
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Shapes Of Things
Source: CD: Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame-Volume VII (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: McCarty/Relf/Samwell-Smith
Label: Legacy (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
Unlike earlier Yardbirds hits, 1966's Shapes Of Things was written by members of the band. The song, featuring one of guitarist Jeff Beck's most distinctive solos, just barely missed the top 10 in the US, although it was a top 5 single in the UK.
Artist: Del-Vetts
Title: Last Time Around
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Dennis Dahlquist
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
Dunwich Records was a small independent label in Chicago that got national distribution through a deal with Atlantic Records. Their biggest act was the Shadows of Knight, who topped the charts with Gloria in 1966. One of the most successful other bands on the label was the Del-Vetts, from Chicago's affluent North Side (band members had matching white Corvettes, hence the name.) Last Time Around, sounding a lot like the Yardbirds, was their only nationally charted song, although they did get airplay in the midwest with other songs as well.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Capaldi/Winwood/Wood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
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 this one from the Mr. Fantasy album.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: When I Was Young
Source: CD: The Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Polydor
Year: 1967
After the Animals disbanded in 1966, Eric Burdon set out to form a new band that would be far more psychedelic than the original group. The first release from these "New Animals" was When I Was Young. The song was credited to the entire band, a practice that would continue throughout the entire existence of the group that came to be called Eric Burdon And The Animals.
Artist: Velvet Underground
Title: Femme Fatale
Source: CD: The Velvet Underground And Nico
Writer: Lou Reed
Label: Polydor (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
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.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine
Source: LP: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
One of the first psychedelic singles to hit the L.A. market in late 1965 was Can't Seem To Make You Mine. The song was also chosen to lead off the first Seeds album, released in 1966. 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. After the national success of Pushin' Too Hard, Can't Seem To Make You Mine was re-released nationally, but did not make a huge impression.
Title: Alligator/Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)
Source: CD: Anthem Of The Sun
Writer: Lesh/McKernan/Hunter/Garcia/Kreutzmann/Weir
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1968
After a debut album that took about a week to record (and that the band was unanimously unhappy with) the Grateful Dead took their time on their second effort, Anthem Of The Sun. After spending a considerable amount of time in three different studios on two coasts and not getting the sound they wanted (and shedding their original producer along the way) the Dead came to the conclusion that the only way to make an album that sounded anywhere near what the band sounded like onstage was to use actual recordings of their performances and combine them with the studio tracks they had been working on. Side two of the album, which includes the classic Alligator and the more experimental Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks), is basically an enhanced live performance, with new vocal tracks added in the studio. Alligator itself is notable as the first Grateful Dead composition to feature the lyrics of Robert Hunter, who would become Jerry Garcia's main collaborator for many many years.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
Source: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released
Writer: Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
I once knew someone from San Jose who had an original copy of the single version of The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), the opening track from the first Dead album. It was totally worn out from being played a few hundred times, though.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: That's It For The Other One
Source: CD: Anthem Of The Sun
Writer: Garcia/Kreutzmann/Lesh/McKernan/Weir/Constanten
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1968
The second Grateful Dead album, Anthem Of The Sun, opens with a suite called That's It For The Other One. Although it plays as one continuous piece of music, the suite was banded on the LP into separate tracks in order to increase songwriting royalties. Unlike the better-known Alligator, which is a live performance with studio overdubs, That's It For The Other One is a studio creation supplemented by live recordings. The final section of the piece was provided by future member Tom Constanten, whose contributions to the Dead were always more prominent in the studio than onstage. Anthem Of The Sun itself was the first Grateful Dead album to feature drummer Mickey Hart, who would be an off-and-on member of the band throughout their existence.
Artist: Taos
Title: Putting My Faith In You
Source: LP: Taos
Writer: Taos
Label: Mercury
Year: 1969
When going through the WEOS vinyl archives a couple years ago I ran across an album called simply Taos. After doing a considerable amount of research I learned that the album came out in 1969. That's all I found out. Like many albums of the time, the LP was packaged in a gatefold sleeve. Unlike most LPs of the time, there were no songwriting credits given, either on the album cover or the label itself. In fact, other than the names of the songs themselves, there is no text at all. Instead, we are treated to several pictures of (presumably) the band members taken mostly at Taos Pueblo in northern New Mexico. As there was a commune in the area that had been established by disgruntled hippys that had fled the fast-deteriorating Haight-Ashbury scene the previous year, it's a good possibility that the band was from that commune, although I have no documentation to that end. Musically, Taos certainly sounds like an extension of the San Francisco sound, as Putting My Faith In You demonstrates. If anyone has any information about this band, feel free to drop me a line, either through the comments button at www.hermitradio.com or on the Stuck In The Psychedelic Era Facebook page wall.
Artist: Wishbone Ash
Title: Queen Of Torture
Source: 45 RPM single B side (originally released on LP: Wishbone Ash)
Writer: Upton/Turner/Turner/Powell
Label: Decca
Year: 1970
One of the first bands to use dual lead guitars was Wishbone Ash. When the band's original guitarist had to leave, auditions were held, but the remaining members couldn't come to a consensus between the two finalists so they kept both of them, or so the story goes. Queen Of Torture, from their 1969 debut album, shows just how well the two guitars meshed.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Hey Joe
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 1-The Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Roberts
Label: Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year: 1966
The origins of the song Hey Joe are surrounded in mystery. Various writers have been given credit for the tune, including Chet Powers, aka Dino Valenti, who wrote Get Together, but David Crosby claimed the song was actually an old folk tune dating back to the 19th century that he himself had popularized as a member of the Byrds before the Leaves got ahold of it. Regardless of where the song came from, the Leaves version was the first to be released as a single and is generally considered the definitive fast version of the song. In Britain it was the slower version favored by the Jimi Hendrix Experience that became a hit, using an arrangement pioneered by songwriter Tim Rose and the Music Machine's Sean Bonniwell.
Artist: Mystery Trend
Title: Johnny Was A Good Boy
Source: CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Nagle/Cuff
Label: Rhino (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
The Mystery Trend was a bit of an anomaly. Contemporaries of bands such as the Great! Society and the Charlatans, the Trend always stood a bit apart from the rest of the crowd, playing to an audience that was both a bit more affluent and a bit more "adult" (they were reportedly the house band at a Sausalito strip club). Although they played in the city itself as early as 1965, they did not release their first record until early 1967. The song, Johnny Was A Good Boy, tells the story of a seemingly normal middle-class kid who turns out to be a monster, surprising friends, family and neighbors. The same theme would be used by XTC in the early 1980s in the song No Thugs In Our House, one of the standout tracks from their landmark English Settlement album.
Artist: Harry Nilsson
Title: Let The Good Times Roll
Source: LP: Nilsson Schmilsson
Writer: Lee
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1971
By 1971, Harry Nilsson (usually known only by his last name) had established himself as both a singer (Everybody's Talkin', for the film Midnight Cowboy), and a songwriter (the Monkee's Cuddly Toy and Daddy's Song, among others). One of his most successful solo albums was Nilsson Schmilsson, which included the hits Without You and the psychedelic Jump Into The Fire. Despite his growing reputation as a singer/songwriter, Nilsson continued to record an occassion cover song, such as the 50s Shirley and Lee hit Let The Good Times Roll. It may have been this love of 50s music that led to him becoming close friends and drinking buddies with John Lennon, who recorded an entire album of 50s cover tunes in the early 70s.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Conquistador
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1972
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.
Artist: Pheremones
Title: N.G.R.I.
Source: unreleased
Writer: Ed Carlson
Label: n/a
Year: 1987
I usually don't say anything here about the instrumental tracks I use at the end of each hour, but I thought I'd make an exception, since this is only the second time I've used Ed Carlson's N.G.R.I. (which stands for No Good Rotten Instrumental). Ed was lead guitarist for the Pheremones, a band I sat in with on bass for a few months before starting on the Electric Dream Project (which is where most of the instrumentals I use on the show come from).
Artist: James Brown
Title: Papa's Got A Brand New Bag
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer: James Brown
Label: Ripete
Year: 1965
Although he had been recording since the late 1950s, it wasn't until the release of Papa's Got A Brand New Bag in 1965 that James Brown achieved stardom. The song was recorded in less than an hour in a Charlotte, NC studio on the way to a performance. On the master tape Brown can be heard saying that they had a hit record on their hands. The record itself is actually a half-step higher in pitch than the master tape, which was deliberately sped up to give the song a bit of extra punch when the record was mastered.
Artist: Otis Redding
Title: The Glory Of Love
Source: LP: The Dock Of The Bay (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Billy Hill
Label: Volt
Year: Original single release: 1967; LP release: 1968
Otis Redding's dream was to fill the gap left by the untimely death of Sam Cooke in 1964. By the summer of 1967 it looked like that dream was about to become a reality. Following a landmark performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June, Redding released his new version of a song that had originally been recorded by Benny Goodman in 1936 and had been redone numerous times over the years, including a version by the Five Keys that had spent eight weeks in the number one spot on the R&B charts in 1951. Sadly, Redding's life would be cut short the following winter when the plane carrying the singer, along with several members of the Bar-Kays, went down in a snowstorm, killing all aboard. After Redding's death, several tracks that had not yet appeared on an album were collected on an LP called The Dock Of The Bay, released on the Volt label (part of the Stax Records group) in 1968.
Artist: Lemon Pipers
Title: Green Tambourine
Source: CD: The Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Leka/Pinz
Label: Priority (original label: Buddah)
Year: 1967
After a promising start signing respected artists like Johnny Winter and Captain Beefheart, Buddah Records quickly acquired a reputation as the "bubble gum" label, with a string of hits by groups like the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. As a result, Green Tambourine is often dismissed as mere fluff, when in fact it is a legitimate piece of psychedelia, recorded at the end of 1967, before the advent of the bubble gum era (although the song is sometimes cited as the first bubble gum hit).
Artist: Cream
Title: Tales Of Brave Ulysses
Source: CD: Disraeli Gears
Writer: Clapton/Sharp
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1967
Cream was one of the first bands to break British tradition and release singles that were also available as album cuts. This tradition likely came about because 45 RPM records (both singles and extended play 45s) tended to stay in print indefinitely in the UK, unlike in the US, where a hit single usually had a shelf life of around 4-6 months then disappeared forever. When the Disraeli Gears album was released, however, the song Strange Brew, which leads off the LP, was released in Europe as a single. The B side of that single was Tales Of Brave Ulysses, which opens side two of the album.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: My Best Friend
Source: CD: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer: Skip Spence
Label: RCA
Year: 1967
Although drummer Skip Spence had left Jefferson Airplane after the group's first LP, he did leave a song behind. My Best Friend was actually released as a single before Somebody To Love, making it the first single released from the Surrealistic Pillow album. Spence, meanwhile, was about to make a big splash as a founding member of Moby Grape.
Artist: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title: As Kind As Summer
Source: LP: Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil
Writer: Markley/Harris/Bryant
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
The first time I heard this I jumped up to see what was wrong with my turntable. A real gotcha moment.
Artist: Them
Title: Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen)
Source: LP: Now And Them
Writer: Tom Lane
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
After Van Morrison left Them to pursue a solo career, the band returned to Belfast, where they recruited Kenny McDowell to be the group's new lead vocalist. They then relocated to California, where they cut two albums for Tower Records. The second of the two albums featured songs written by the husband and wife team of Tom Pulley and Vivian Lane. The first LP, entitled Now And Them, featured songs from a variety of sources, including one song, Dirty Old Man (At The Age Of Sixteen), written by Lane himself.
Artist: Things To Come
Title: Come Alive
Source: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Russ Ward
Label: Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1968
Come Alive is a solid piece of garage rock, written by drummer Russ Ward, who would go on to become one of L.A.'s most sought after studio drummers using the name Russ Kunkel.
Artist: Emerson, Lake And Palmer
Title: The Endless Enigma (part one)
Source: CD: Trilogy
Writer: Emerson/Lake
Label: Atlantic (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1972
Just for something completely different we have a track from the third Emerson, Lake and Palmer album, Trilogy.
Artist: Simon and Garfunkel
Title: A Most Peculiar Man
Source: CD: Collected Works (originally released on LP: Sounds Of Silence)
Writer: Paul Simon
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
You would think that a high school on a US military facility would be inclined to use the most staunchly traditional teaching methods known to man. Surprisingly, though, this was not the case at General H. H. Arnold High School in Weisbaden, Germany. In fact, the English department was teaching some sort of new system that dispensed with terms such as verb and noun and replaced them with a more conceptual approach to language. What I best remember about my Freshman English class is the day that my rather Bohemian teacher (he wore sandals to class!), actually brought in a copy of the Sounds Of Silence and had us dissect two songs from the album, Richard Cory and A Most Peculiar Man. We spent several classes discussing the similarities (they both deal with a suicide by someone representing a particular archetype) and differences (the methods used and the archetypes themselves) between the songs. I have forgotten everything else about that class and its so-called revolutionary approach, but those two songs have stayed with me my entire life. I guess that teacher (whose name I have forgotten) was on to something.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Lady Jane
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1966
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 was for B sides that got a significant amount of airplay to be rated seperately from the A side of the single, and Lady Jane managed to climb to the # 24 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 (Mother's Little Helper peaked at # 8).
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: Shapes Of Things
Source: CD: Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame-Volume VII (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: McCarty/Relf/Samwell-Smith
Label: Legacy (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
Unlike earlier Yardbirds hits, 1966's Shapes Of Things was written by members of the band. The song, featuring one of guitarist Jeff Beck's most distinctive solos, just barely missed the top 10 in the US, although it was a top 5 single in the UK.
Artist: Del-Vetts
Title: Last Time Around
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2-Punk (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Dennis Dahlquist
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunwich)
Year: 1966
Dunwich Records was a small independent label in Chicago that got national distribution through a deal with Atlantic Records. Their biggest act was the Shadows of Knight, who topped the charts with Gloria in 1966. One of the most successful other bands on the label was the Del-Vetts, from Chicago's affluent North Side (band members had matching white Corvettes, hence the name.) Last Time Around, sounding a lot like the Yardbirds, was their only nationally charted song, although they did get airplay in the midwest with other songs as well.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Mr. Fantasy)
Writer: Capaldi/Winwood/Wood
Label: United Artists
Year: 1967
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 this one from the Mr. Fantasy album.
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title: When I Was Young
Source: CD: The Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Label: Polydor
Year: 1967
After the Animals disbanded in 1966, Eric Burdon set out to form a new band that would be far more psychedelic than the original group. The first release from these "New Animals" was When I Was Young. The song was credited to the entire band, a practice that would continue throughout the entire existence of the group that came to be called Eric Burdon And The Animals.
Artist: Velvet Underground
Title: Femme Fatale
Source: CD: The Velvet Underground And Nico
Writer: Lou Reed
Label: Polydor (original label: Verve)
Year: 1967
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.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Can't Seem To Make You Mine
Source: LP: Nuggets-Classics From the Psychedelic 60s (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: The Seeds)
Writer: Sky Saxon
Label: Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year: 1967
One of the first psychedelic singles to hit the L.A. market in late 1965 was Can't Seem To Make You Mine. The song was also chosen to lead off the first Seeds album, released in 1966. 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. After the national success of Pushin' Too Hard, Can't Seem To Make You Mine was re-released nationally, but did not make a huge impression.
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