https://exchange.prx.org/p/594318
This week we manage to squeeze in an entire album side from the Who and an all-new Advanced Psych set, and still have room for nearly two dozen more tunes, including an artists' set from the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Not bad for two hours, eh?
Artist: Cream
Title: White Room (single version)
Source: LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Wheels Of Fire)
Writer(s): Bruce/Brown
Label: United Artists (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
In order to get songs played on top 40 radio, record companies made it a practice to shorten album cuts by cutting out extended instrumental breaks and extra verses. This version of the Cream classic White Room, clocking in at just over three minutes, is a typical example.
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 officially sanctioned 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: Yardbirds
Title: Lost Woman
Source: Mono CD: Roger The Engineer (aka The Yardbirds) (original US title: Over Under Sideways Down)
Writer(s): Dreja/McCarty/Beck/Relf/Samwell-Smith
Label: Great American Recordings (original label: Epic)
Year: 1966
It may come as a surprise that the Yardbirds, one of the most celebrated bands of the British Invasion, only made one studio album in their entire existence (the other studio albums released in the US were actually compilation albums of material that had been previously released on 45 RPM vinyl in the UK). That album was The Yardbirds, which was released in the US in 1966 under the title Over Under Sideways Down. The original British cover used a drawing by guitarist Chris Dreja labelled Roger The Engineer, while the US version depicted the band members in a photo pastiche. In many ways the album represented a creative peak for the band, which at that time included Jeff Beck on lead guitar. Most of the material on the album was written in the studio and credited to the entire band, including Lost Woman, one of the Yardbirds' best known tunes.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Stone Free
Source: Simulated stereo LP: Smash Hits
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1966
Whether or not Stone Free was the first song ever written by Jimi Hendrix, there is no doubt it was his first original composition to be recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In fact, it is the only song written by Hendrix to be released in 1966, albeit only in Europe and the UK (as the B side to Hey Joe). The first time the song was released in the US was on the Smash Hits anthology album that was put out by Reprise Records in 1969. A newer version was recorded, but not released, that same year under the title Stone Free Again.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: You Got Me Floatin'
Source: CD: Axis: Bold As Love
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1967
The Jimi Hendrix Experience took four-track recording technology to new levels with their second LP, Axis: Bold As Love on songs like You Got Me Floatin'. The track opens with backwards guitar followed by a memorable riff that continues throughout the song. The entire instrumental break also uses backward-masked guitar, making a somewhat simplistic song into a track that bears further listens.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: All Along The Watchtower
Source: LP: Smash Hits (originally released on LP: Electric Ladyland)
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: Reprise
Year: 1968
Although there have been countless covers of Bob Dylan songs recorded by a variety of artists, very few of them have become better known than the original Dylan versions. Probably the most notable exception is the Jimi Hendrix Experience version of All Along The Watchtower on the Electric Ladyland album. Hendrix's arrangement of the song has been adopted by several other musicians over the years, including Neil Young (at the massive Bob Dylan tribute concert) and even Dylan himself.
Artist: George Harrison
Title: Ski-ing
Source: CD: Wonderwall Music
Writer(s): Clapton/Harrison
Label: Apple
Year: 1968
Starting in 1966 George Harrison showed an intense interest in the music of sitarist Ravi Shankar, and in Indian classical music in general, even to the point of learning to play the sitar himself. His first composition along those lines was Love You To, from the Revolver album, followed in 1967 by Within You Without You from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 1968 Harrison took it a step further by composing and performing music for the soundtrack of a film by director Joe Massot called called Wonderwall. The film itself dealt with a wall separating two apartments occupied by individuals from extremely different backgrounds (a lonely college professor and a Vogue model), and a small gap in the wall itself creating a bridge between the two. Harrison used the film as a springboard to fuse music from Eastern (Indian classical) and Western (rock) traditions, introducing Western audiences to various Indian instruments in the process. The album, Wonderwall Music, was Harrison's first solo project as well as the first album released on the Apple label (predating the Beatles White Album by several weeks). Wonderwall Music featured several guest musicians, including Eric Clapton, who came up with the guitar riffs on Ski-ing, the shortest track on the album. Although Wonderwall Music was not a commercial success at the time of its release, it has since come to be highly regarded as a forerunner of both electronica and world music.
Artist: Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title: Incense And Peppermints (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Source: Mono CD: Psychedelic Pop
Writer(s): Carter/Gilbert/Weitz/King
Label: BMG/RCA/Buddah (original label: Uni)
Year: 1967
Incense and Peppermints is one of the iconic songs of the psychedelic era, yet when it was originally released to Los Angeles area radio stations it was intended to be the B side of The Birdman of Alkatrash. Somewhere along the line a DJ flipped the record over and started playing Incense And Peppermints instead. The song caught on and Uni Records (short for Universal, which is now the world's largest record company) picked up the Strawberry Alarm Clock's contract and reissued the record nationally with Incense And Peppermints as the A side.
Artist: Left Banke
Title: I Haven't Got The Nerve
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Cameron/Martin
Label: Smash/Sundazed
Year: 1967
The first thought I had when seeing the title of Left Banke's 1967 debut LP, Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina, was "if they had to name the album after the band's two hit singles, the rest of the songs must really suck", so I never gave it another thought. It turns out I was totally wrong, as the album is actually filled with fine tracks such as I Haven't Got The Nerve, a kind of "not" breakup song that was originally the B side of the Walk Away Renee single in late 1966. I still think it's an annoying name for an album, though.
Artist: Donovan
Title: Universal Soldier
Source: CD: Songs Of Protest (originally released in UK as 45 RPM EP and in US as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Buffy Sainte-Marie
Label: Rhino (original labels: UK: Pye, US: Hickory)
Year: 1965
Before Sunshine Superman became a huge hit in the US, Scottish folk singer Donovan Leitch was making a name for himself in the UK as the "British Dylan." One of his most popular early tunes was Universal Soldier, an antiwar piece that was originally released in the UK on a four-song EP. The EP charted well, but Hickory Records, which had the US rights to Donovan's records, was reluctant to release the song in a format (EP) that had long since run its course in the US and was, by 1965, only used by off-brand labels to crank out soundalike hits performed by anonymous studio musicians. Eventually Hickory decided to release Universal Soldier as a single, but the record failed to make the US charts.
Artist: Love
Title: Colored Balls Falling
Source: Mono LP: Love
Writer(s): Arthur Lee
Label: Elektra
Year: 1966
The first Love album is rooted solidly in both folk-rock and garage rock. A solid example of this blend is Colored Balls Falling, written by Arthur Lee. To my knowledge, Colored Balls Falling has never been included on any anthology albums, making this mono mix of the song somewhat of a rarity until recently, when Elektra reissued the album in both mono and stereo formats on a remastered CD.
Artist: Buckinghams
Title: Foreign Policy
Source: 45 RPM B side (originally released on LP: Time And Charges)
Writer(s): James William Guercio
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
The name James William Guercio is not as well-known as Peter Cetera or David Clayton-Thomas, yet if it weren't for Guercio, neither of the other two would have had the careers that made them famous in the first place. For that matter, if not for Guercio's intervention, the Buckinghams, who had a #1 hit in early 1967 with the song Kind Of A Drag, would have quickly faded off into obscurity as a one-hit wonder band. Born in Chicago in 1945, Guercio moved out to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, becoming a session musician and songwriter, and was even briefly a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention. In late 1966, after returning to his native Chicago he was introduced to the members of the Buckinghams, and soon became their producer, releasing the album Time And Charges on the Columbia label in 1967. The album included two top 10 singles, as well as more experimental tracks such as the politically-oriented Foreign Policy, which Guercio wrote for the band. The following year Guercio was approached by an old college friend, Walter Parazaider, who invited him to come hear his new band, the Big Thing. Guercio became that band's manager and producer, convincing them to move to Los Angeles and change their name to the Chicago Transit Authority, which later was shortened to Chicago. During sessions for the first Chicago album, Guercio was asked by the people at Columbia to produce the second Blood, Sweat & Tears album, featuring that band's new vocalist, David Clayton-Thomas. Although the BS&T album was a huge success, Guercio stayed with Chicago, producing a total of 11 albums and 17 top 25 singles over the next few years, making a star of vocalist/bassist Peter Cetera in the process. Since parting company with Chicago in 1978, Guercio has been involved in various enterprises, including founding a popular recording studio in Colorado that burned down in 1985 called the Caribou Ranch, and for a while was owner of the Country Music Television cable network.
Artist: Chocolate Watch Band
Title: No Way Out
Source: Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: No Way Out and as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Ed Cobb
Label: Rhino
Year: 1967
The Chocolate Watchband, from the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area (specifically Foothills Junior College in Los Altos Hills), were fairly typical of the South Bay music scene, centered in San Jose. Although they were generally known for lead vocalist Dave Aguilar's ability to channel Mick Jagger with uncanny accuracy (and a propensity for blowing better known acts off the stage), producer Ed Cobb gave them a more psychedelic sound in the studio with the use of studio effects and other enhancements (including adding tracks to their albums that were performed entire by studio musicians). The title track of No Way Out is credited to Cobb, but in reality is a fleshing out of a jam the band had previously recorded, but not yet released (a situation that has been since corrected).
Artist: Monocles
Title: The Spider And The Fly
Source: LP: Nuggets Vol. 2 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Strong/Stevens
Label: Elektra (original label: Chicory)
Year: 1967
Once upon a time (1958) there was a B movie called the Fly. The most memorable thing about the film was hearing a tiny high-pitched voice emanating from a human head on a fly's body yelling "help me". This inspired a composer and conductor named Charles H. Sagle to write a song called The Spider And The Fly. Not wanted to destroy his career, he used not one, but two pseudonyms, Bob Strong and Carl Stevens. As Carl Stevens he was leader of Carl Stevens And His Orchestra, which included percussionist Bobby Christian, who in turn led a group called Bobby Christian And His Band that included as a member (you guessed it) Carl Stevens. The Spider And The Fly was released on Mercury's Wing Records subsidiary with the song title preceeded by: WARNING: Do Not Listen to this Record in the Dark or Alone. Nine years later, a band from Greeley, Colorado calling themselves the Monocles recorded an even stranger version of The Spider And The Fly, releasing it on the Chicory label. A copy of this single has been known to sell for upward of seven-hundred dollars in recent years.
Artist: Mad River
Title: Wind Chimes
Source: Mono British import CD: The Berkeley EPs (originally released as 7" 33 1/3 RPM Extended Play mini-album)
Writer(s): Mad River
Label: Big Beat (original label: Wee)
Year: 1967
Unlike most San Francisco Bay Area bands of the mid to late 1960s, Mad River was already a functioning band when they arrived on the scene from their native Ohio in 1967. The group, consisting of Lawrence Hammond (vocals, bass), David Robinson (guitar), Rick Bockner (guitar) and Greg Dewey (drums, vocals), had been formed in 1965 as the Mad River Blues Band in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where all of the members were attending college. By the time they relocated to Berkeley in early 1967 they had developed a unique style of their own. Once in Berkeley, the band quickly established themselves as one of the most "underground" bands in the area, often appearing on the bill with Country Joe And The Fish. In fact, it was the latter band that inspired Mad River to record an EP later that year. Following an unsuccessful audition for Fantasy Records, Mad River cut a three-song EP for the small Wee label. The entire second side of the disc was a six and a half minute long piece called Wind Chimes. The band recut the track in stereo for their first full-length album (on Capitol) the following year.
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 long recording of a traditional tune that is generally considered to be the Charlatans' signature song: Alabama Bound.
Artist: Luke & The Apostles
Title: Been Burnt
Source: Mono LP: Also Dug-Its (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Ray Bennett
Label: Elektra (original label: Bounty)
Year: 1967
Just as New York had its Greenwich Village music scene, with groups like the Blues Project, Lovin' Spoonful and Paul Butterfield Blues Band playing small clubs like the Cafe au Go Go, so did Toronto have Yorkville Village, home of artists like Buffy Sainte Marie, Gordon Lightfoot and the Paupers, and a coffee house known as the Purple Onion. Elektra Records had opened a Canadian division in 1965 and Paul Rothchild, who was serving as a talent scout for the label, caught a local blues band called Luke & The Apostles at the Purple Onion one evening in late 1965. He was so taken with the group that he had their lead vocalist, Dave "Luke" Gibson, audition for label head Jac Holzman...over the phone. The band flew down to New York to record a pair of songs, including Been Burnt, but then Rothchild got busted for marijuana possession and did a year at Sing Sing (or some other NY state facility). The band continued to build a following in the Toronto area, going through a series of personnel changes in the process. In April of 1967, still waiting for their single to be released, the band returned to New York for a week-long engagement at the Cafe au Go Go, which led to a return engagement at the same club in May. While in New York the band spent an entire day at the Elektra studios, recording an album's worth of material. During their May gig, the band was offered a management contract by Albert Grossman (Bob Dylan's manager) and Bill Graham, with Graham offering a slot at the Fillmore West that summer. In between the two Cafe au Go Go gigs, Elektra released Been Burnt/Don't Know Why as a single, which ended up putting a strain on relations within the band itself, with some members wanting to go with Grossman and Graham while others wanted to stay with Rothchild and Holzman. Three months later, Gibson left the band to join another Canadian group, Kensington Market, and the rest of the band quickly fragmented, only to reunite briefly in 1970, releasing their second and final single on Canada's True North label. Since then the band has occasionally gotten back together and finally released their first (and only) LP, Luke & The Apostles, in 2017, 50 years after the first appearance of Been Burnt on vinyl.
Artist: Petals
Title: Potato Bug
Source: CD: Cadis Center
Writer(s): Cary Wolf
Label: Novermber Rain
Year: 1994
I'm a little puzzled about the Petals. I recently received copies of Cadis Center and other works by the band from vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Cary Wolf, but from an address in North Carolina. All the documentation I can find about the Petals, however, indicates that they are from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as is their label, November Rain Records. Apparently the band, consisting of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Laurie Kern, bassist Tim Kern, mandolin player John Kruth, vocalist/drummer/guitarist James D Tessier and Wolf himself, has not released anything since 2003, making the whole thing even more of a mystery. I'm hoping that the set of 45 RPM singles Cary is sending will help clear up the confusion.
Artist: McFadden's Parachute
Title: Sunshine Shadow
Source: CD: Psolipsystic Psychedelic Pslyces Of McFadden's Parachute (originally released on CD: Hammerdown)
Writer(s): Darren Brennessel
Label: PeterFonda
Year: 2006
Although the psychedelic era itself officially covers only a few years in the late 1960s, for many the spirit of the era's music lives on. One such person is Darren Brennessel of Rochester, NY, who is the mastermind behind over two dozen McFadden's Parachute albums. Brennessel has been playing professionally since 1989, when he was the drummer for a band called the Purple Flashes, conceiving and recording the first McFadden's Parachute album as a side project. In the years since, in addition to playing multiple instruments on McFadden's Parachute albums, Brennessel has continued to play drums with a variety of bands, including Sky Saxon's Green Forests, which recorded an as-yet unreleased album in 2004. Several years ago Brennessel sent me a special sampler collection of McFadden's Parachute tracks recorded mostly in the 1990s and early 2000s. The tune Sunshine Shadow, from the self-released 2006 CD Hammerdown, is one of those tracks.
Artist: Billy Cox's Nitro Function
Title: You Got A Hold On Me
Source: German import CD: Billy Cox's Nitro Function
Writer(s): Char Vinnedge
Label: O Music (original label: Pye International)
Year: 1971
Following the death of Jimi Hendrix, his longtime friend and current bass player Billy Cox got in touch with Char Vinnedge, the founder of the Luv'd Ones, one of the first all-female rock bands. After the Luv'd Ones had split up, Vinnedge had spent a considerable amount of time studying Hendrix's unique approach to playing the guitar and had developed her own similar style of playing, which can be heard on the album Billy Cox's Nitro Function. Although Vinnedge wrote most of the songs on the album (that for some reason was never released in the US), Cox did contribute a couple of tunes, including You Got A Hold On Me. In addition to Cox and Vinnedge, the album features Robert Tarrant on drums.
Artist: Electric Prunes
Title: I've Got A Way Of My Own
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): L. Ransford
Label: Sundazed/Reprise
Year: Recorded 1966, released 2016
Not all of the songs the Electric Prunes recorded during sessions for their debut LP, I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), ended up being included on the album itself. Among the unused tracks was a cover of a Hollies B side called I've Got A Way Of My Own. The song was actually one of the first tunes that the band recorded, while they were still, in the words of vocalist James Lowe, "searching for a sound and style we could capture on a record." Following the sessions the band decided that harmonies were better left to other groups, and I've Got A Way Of My Own remained unreleased until the 21st century.
Artist: Beatles
Title: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Source: LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Label: Parlophone/EMI (original US label: Capitol)
Year: 1967
The top album of 1967 was the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was also the first US Beatles album to have a song lineup that was identical to the original UK LP. Consequently, it was also the first Beatle album released in the US to not include any songs that were also released as singles. Nonetheless, several tracks from the LP found their way onto the playlists of both top 40 AM and "underground" FM stations from coast to coast. Among the most popular of these tracks was John Lennon's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, which shows up near the top of just about everyone's list of classic psychedelic tunes.
Artist: Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title: Combination Of The Two
Source: CD: Cheap Thrills
Writer(s): Sam Andrew
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1968
Everything about Big Brother And The Holding Company can be summed up by the title of the opening track for their Cheap Thrills album (and their usual show opener as well): Combination Of The Two. A classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, Big Brother, with Janis Joplin on lead vocals, had an energy that neither Joplin or the band itself was able to duplicate once they parted company. On the song itself, the actual lead vocals for the verses are the work of Combination Of The Two's writer, bassist Sam Houston Andrew III, but those vocals are eclipsed by the layered non-verbal chorus that starts with Joplin then repeats itself with Andrew providing a harmony line which leads to Joplin's promise to "rock you, sock you, gonna give it to you now". It was a promise that the group seldom failed to deliver on.
Artist: Open Mind
Title: Magic Potion
Source: CD: Nuggets II-Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Michael Brancaccio
Label: Rhino (original label: Philips)
Year: 1969
Originally known as the Drag Set, the Open Mind adopted their new name in late 1967. Not long after the change they signed a deal with Philips Records and recorded an album with producer Johnny Franz in 1968. Their greatest achievement, however, came the following year, when they released Magic Potion as a single. By that time, unfortunately, British psychedelia had run its course, and Open Mind soon closed up shop.
Artist: Who
Title: The Who Sell Out (side one)
Source: LP: The Who Sell Out
Writer(s): Keen/Entwistle/Townshend
Label: Decca
Year: 1967
In December of 1967 the Who released what is sometimes considered both the greatest tribute to and parody of top 40 radio ever released on vinyl. The first side of The Who Sell Out is a collection of songs interconnected by fake commercials and real jingles used by pirate radio station Wonderful Radio London, which had been shut down by the British government in August of 1967. The Who had actually been recording real commercials during this period, and the fake ones they made were done in the same style. The jingles, on the other hand, were genuine, and had been produced by PAMS Productions of Dallas, Texas, for the actual Radio London. In fact, the use of those jingles on The Who Sell Out led to the band being sued by PAMS for using them without permission (the band presumably thought it would OK to use them since the station itself no longer existed). The album itself starts off with Armenia City In The Sky, a song written by roadie John "Speedy" Keen, who would later have a hit single as the lead vocalist/songwriter on Thunderclap Newman's Something In The Air. This is followed by the short Heinz Baked Beans, credited to bassist John Entwhistle but bearing a strong resemblance to Keith Moon's Cobwebs And Strange, which had appeared on the band's previous album, A Quick One. Following a quick "more music" jingle (used by many US radio stations as well as Radio London) is Pete Townshend's third known version of Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand, using a calypso-style arrangement. This is followed by a commercial for Premier Drums (which reportedly got the band a free drum set) followed by a Wonderful Radio London jingle. The next song is a short story about a girl whose deodorant "let her down" because she used the wrong brand. The right brand, in this case, was Odorono, the brand that had sold America on the entire concept of deodorants in the early 1900s. Another Radio London jingle leads to Townshend's Tattoo, a story of two brothers whose trip to the tattoo parlor has consequences when their parents find out. Following another jingle is Our Love Was, a song that was considered strong enough to be included on their 1968 compilation album Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy. Part of what made the 60s top 40 radio "sound" was the rapid-fire segue of jingles and commercials into a song, and the Who do it up right with a group of four quick spots leading into the final track on side one. I Can See For Miles had already been available as a single since September of 1967 (October in the UK), but this was the first time it had been released in stereo, with dual drum tracks from Keith Moon. The second side of the Who Sell Out for the most part abandons the top 40 radio concept, although it does include a couple "commercials", but the first side, taken as a whole, is a true work of art.
Artist: Santana
Title: Black Magic Woman
Source: CD: The Best Of 60s Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Abraxas and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Peter Green
Label: Priority (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1970
A common practice among San Francisco bands was to record their first album in a matter of days then spend months on the follow up. Such was the case with Carlos Santana's band, who resisted pressure from their label to crank out a new album following their successful appearance at Woodstock. The result was Abraxas, released in spring of 1970, still considered to be one of the best rock albums ever made. The album opened with a medley that included their own version of the 1968 Fleetwood Mac song Black Magic Woman. An edited version of the song was released as a single and became the group's biggest hit.
Artist: Doors
Title: Love Her Madly
Source: CD: Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine (originally released on LP: L.A. Woman)
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra/Rhino
Year: 1971
The first single released from L.A. Woman, the final Doors album to feature vocalist Jim Morrison, Love Her Madly was a major success, peaking just outside the top 10 in the US, and going all the way to the #3 spot in Canada. The album itself was a return to a more blues-based sound by the Doors, a change that did not sit well with producer Paul Rothchild, who left the project early on, leaving engineer Bruce Botnik to assume production duties. Rothchild's opinion aside, it was exactly what the Doors needed to end their run (in their original four man incarnation) on a positive note.
