Monday, April 24, 2017

Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1717 (starts 4/26/17)

This week it's mostly long sets, interspersed with short breathers. As an added bonus, the final half hour is an all San Francisco segment, featuring a set from Jefferson Airplane and tunes from two other popular Bay Area bands.

Artist:    Buffalo Springfield
Title:    For What It's Worth
Writer(s):    Stephen Stills
Label:    Cotillion (original label: Atco)
Year:    1966

Artist:        Turtles
Title:        You Know What I Mean
Source:        45 RPM single
Writer:        Bonner/Gordon
Label:        White Whale
Year:        1967
        1967 was a good year for the Turtles, mainly due to their discovery of the songwriting team of Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon. Not only did the former members of the Magicians write the Turtles' biggest hit, Happy Together, they also provided two follow-up songs, She's My Girl and You Know What I Mean, both of which hit the top 20 later in the year.

Artist:    Electric Prunes
Title:    Flowing Smoothly
Source:    CD: Mass In F Minor (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Brett Wade
Label:    Collector's Choice/Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1969

Artist:    Collectors
Title:    Dream Of Desolation
Source:    LP: Grass And Wild Strawberries
Writer(s):    Collectors/George Ryga
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1969
    Outside of Canada, the Collectors are best known for providing the instrumental tracks for the Electric Prunes album Mass In F Minor when the actual members of the Electric Prunes were taking too long learning the music written by David Axelrod. In their native land, however, the Collectors were already well established, having been together since 1961, when they were the house band for Vancouver's CFUN radio using the name C-FUN Classics. In 1966 they changed their name to the Collectors and hit the Canadian top 10 with their first single, Looking At A Baby. This was soon followed by their self-titled debut LP, which was released at around the same time as they were doing the studio work on Mass In F Minor. Their second album was an ambitious effort called Grass And Wild Strawberries, which featured music written by the band combined with lyrics from Canadian poet and playwright George Ryga on tracks like Dream Of Desolation. Following the departure of lead vocalist Howie Vickers in 1969 the band regrouped under the name Chilliwack, releasing several albums for A&M Records in the early 1970s.

Artist:    Fourth Way
Title:    The Far Side Of Your Moon
Source:    CD: A Heavy Dose Of Lyte Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single A side)
Writer(s):    Graves/Venet
Label:    Arf! Arf! (original label: Soul City)
Year:    1968
    Although the title suggests something out of an 80s comic strip, The Far Side Of Your Moon is a genuine slice of psychedelia from 1968 that appeared as a single on the Soul City label, owned at the time by singer Johnny Rivers. Virtually nothing is known about the band itself (if Fourth Way was even a band at all). The song was co-written by Steve Venet, whose production credits include songs by the Astronauts and the Monkees.

Artist:    Jeff Thomas
Title:    Straight Arrow
Source:    Mono British import CD: My Mind Goes High (originally released in US as 45PM single)
Writer(s):    Jeff Thomas
Label:    Warner Strategic Marketing (original label: Warner Brothers
Year:    1968
    To look at a publicity photo of Jeff Thomas, you'd think you had been transported to the late 1950s. Musically, he was squarely (pun intended) in the middle of the road, with a crooning style that was somewhat out of synch with the times. Somehow, though, he managed to write a tasty piece of psychedelia called Straight Arrow, which was released as his second of three singles in late 1968.

Artist:    Gene Clark
Title:    Los Angeles
Source:    Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on CD: Flying High)
Writer(s):    Smith/Clark
Label:    Rhino (original label: A&M)
Year:    Recorded 1968, released 1998
    When the Byrds first started out in 1965 the member drawing the most attention was Gene Clark. In addition to being a defacto front man (he also played tambourine and harmonica), Clark was the band's original songwriter, penning such favorites as I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better, She Don't Care About Time and Set You Free This Time for their first two LPs. Problems started cropping up, however, when the band's management insisted that Roger McGuinn, rather than Clark, should sing lead on the band's singles, such as Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!. There was also tension in the band due to Clark's being paid more than the other members (due to songwriting royalties). Finally, Clark had anxiety issues concerning travel (especially by air) at a time when there was increasing demand for the band to go on tour to promote their records nationally and even internationally. This led to Clark leaving the group in 1966, his last major song for the band being a collaboration with McGuinn and David Crosby, Eight Miles High. After a critically-acclaimed but commercially disapointing album with the Gosdin Brothers, Clark briefly rejoined the Byrds (replacing the fired Crosby) just in time to make a TV appearance on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, lip-synching to a pair of songs he didn't record. In 1968 Clark signed to A&M Records and began working with banjo player Doug Dillard as Dillard And Clark. Around this time, Clark recorded the song Los Angeles, but the track was not released until 30 years later.

Artist:    Otis Redding
Title:    (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
Source:    LP: Dock Of The Bay (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Redding/Cropper
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1968
    Otis Redding's (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay, co-written by legendary MGs guitarist Steve Cropper, was released shortly after the plane crash that took the lives of not only Redding, but several members of the Bar-Kays as well. Shortly after recording the song Redding played it for his wife, who reacted by saying "Otis, you're changing." Redding's reply was "maybe I need to."

Artist:     Steve Miller Band
Title:     Song For Our Ancestors
Source:     CD: Sailor
Writer:     Steve Miller
Label:     Capitol
Year:     1968
     Sometime around 1980 someone (I don't recall who) released an album called Songs of the Humpback Whale. It was essentially two LP sides of live recordings of the mammals in their natural habitat (the ocean, duh). This was soon followed by a whole series of albums of natural sounds recorded in high fidelity stereo that went under the name Environments. I wonder if the producers of those albums realized that they were following in the footsteps of San Francisco's Steve Miller Band, who's second LP, Sailor, opens with about a minute of ocean sounds (including whale songs) that serve as an intro to Miller's Song For Our Ancestors.

Artist:    Chicago
Title:    South California Purples
Source:    LP: The Chicago Transit Authority
Writer(s):    Robert Lamm
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1969
    Chicago never considered themselves a jazz-rock band, despite all the hype from the rock press and the publicity people at Columbia Records. Rather, the defined themselves as a rock band with a horn section. Songs like Robert Lamm's South California Purples, which is basically a blues progression, lend credence to this view. The track, which showcases the guitar work of Terry Kath, was one of the most popular songs on the band's debut album and continued to be a concert staple until Kath's death in 1978.

Artist:    Iron Butterfly
Title:    Possession
Source:    CD: Heavy
Writer(s):    Doug Ingle
Label:    Atco
Year:    1968
            Iron Butterfly was formed in San Diego in 1966, but soon relocated to Los Angeles. Founders Doug Ingle (vocals, keyboards), Danny Weis (guitar) and Darryl DeLoach (vocals, tambourine) were joined by bassist Jerry Penrod and drummer Ron Bushy for the band's debut LP, Heavy, which was recorded in 1967. Not long after completing Heavy, Iron Butterfly disbanded, and the album was shelved. Ingle and Bushy quickly formed a new Iron Butterfly, which began touring almost immediately. This in turn led to Atco finally releasing Heavy in early 1968. The album did reasonably well, peaking at # 78 despite the fact that the single from the LP, a Doug Ingle composition called Possession, tanked. An earlier version of Possession was released in 1970.

Artist:    Janis Ian
Title:    Then Tangles Of My Mind
Source:    LP: Janis Ian
Writer(s):    Janis Ian
Label:    Polydor (original label: Verve Forecast
Year:    1967
    Janis Ian first came to national prominence at the age of 16 when her song Society's Child was featured on a Leonard Berstein TV special called Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution in 1967. Ian had written and recorded the song two years earlier for Atlantic Records, which chose not to release the record, instead returning the master to Ian herself. Ian then shopped the song around until it was picked up by the Verve Forecast label. The single was actually issued three times by the label before Ian's appearance on the Bernstein generated enough interest in the song to make it a hit, peaking at #14 on the national charts in the summer of 1967 despite being banned on several radio stations for being too controversial (the song was about inter-racial dating). The success of Society's Child led to Ian's self-titled debut LP being released that same year. Although not a major commercial success, the album boasts several excellent songs, including Then Tangles Of My Mind.

Artist:    Third Rail
Title:    Run Run Run
Writer:    Resnick/Resnick/Levine
Label:    Rhino (original label: Epic)
Year:    1967
    Run Run Run is actually a studio creation issued in 1967 from husband and wife team Artie and Kris Resnick collaborating with Joey Levine, who sings lead vocals on the track. They only performed the song live once (in Cincinatti, of all places) as the Third Rail. All three would find a home as part of the Kasenetz-Katz bubble gum machine that would make Buddah Records a major player in 1968, with Levine himself singing lead for one of the label's most successful groups, the Ohio Express.

Artist:    Traffic
Title:    Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush
Source:    Mono CD: Mr. Fantasy
Writer(s):    Winwood/Capaldi/Wood
Label:    Island
Year:    1967

Artist:    Bee Gees
Title:    Turn Of The Century
Source:    CD: Bee Gees' 1st
Writer(s):    Barry and Robin Gibb
Label:    Reprise (original label: Atco)
Year:    1967
    Although they already had two albums released in Australia and New Zealand by the time they relocated to the UK in late 1966, the Bee Gees chose to call their next album Bee Gees' 1st. It was, after all, the group's first LP to be released in the northern hemisphere. More importantly, however, it was the first album to feature the Bee Gees as an actual band, thanks to the addition of lead guitarist Vince Melouney and drummer Colin Petersen, both native Australians. The album itself is arguably the most psychedelic in the band's repertoire, as can be heard on the LP's opening track, Turn Of The Century. The song, written by brothers Barry and Robin Gibb, had audio "flutter" on the intro of the original Atco stereo LP version that has been corrected on the Reprise CD reissue of the album.

Artist:    Byrds
Title:    Thoughts And Words
Source:    Mono LP: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer(s):    Chris Hillman
Label:    Columbia
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:    Liberation News Service
Title:    Mid-Winter's Afternoon
Source:    Mono CD: A Deadly Dose Of Wild Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Ed Esko
Label:    Arf! Arf! (original label: Esko)
Year:    1967
    Liberation News Service was a Philadelphia band founded in 1965 by the Esko brothers, Ed and Jeff. Their first release was Mid-Winter's Afternoon, released on the band's own Esko label in 1967. Not long after its release the band added a new lead vocalist and changed their name to the Esko Affair, eventually getting a contract with Mercury Records and releasing singles in 1968 and 1969.

Artist:    Dave Van Ronk And The Hudson Dusters
Title:    New Dreams
Source:    LP: Dave Van Ronk And The Hudson Dusters
Writer(s):    Dave and Doris Woods
Label:    Verve Forecast
Year:    1967
    Although not exactly a household name, Dave Van Ronk was, in fact, one of the most important and influential figures on the Greenwich Village scene in the early 60s, serving as mentor to a host of young folk and blue musicians including Bob Dylan, whom he met when the latter first arrived in New York. Van Ronk was not known as a songwriter, preferring to put his unique stamp on songs by other composers such as Reverend Gary Davis, Joni Mitchell and even Dylan himself. Although Van Ronk generally worked as a solo artist, he did record an album in 1967 with an electric band called the Hudson Dusters. Alongside the kinds of songs you might expect from someone like Van Ronk, the Hudson Dusters included tunes such as New Dreams, probably the most psychedelic track Van Ronk ever recorded.

Artist:    Lovechain
Title:    Step Out Of Your Window You Can Fly
Writer(s):    Thomas/Mallius
Label:    Arf! Arf! (original label: Westwood)
Year:    1969
    Canton, Ohio, was home to Westwood Records, which issued Step Out Of Your Window You Can Fly as a single in 1969. Not much is known about the band Lovechain, however, except that they were reportedly from the Dover-New Philadelphia, Ohio, area. I can't help but think that Art Linkletter did not put his stamp of approval on this one.

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix
Title:    Message To Love
Source:    LP: Band Of Gypsys
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1970
    In the mid-1960s Jimi Hendrix sat in on some recording sessions with his friend Curtis Knight, signing what he thought was a standard release contract at the time. It wasn't until Hendrix was an international star that the signing came back to haunt him in the form of a lawsuit by Capitol Records accusing him of breach of contract. The end result was that Hendrix ended up owing the label two albums, the first being an album called Get That Feeling that was made up of the material Hendrix had recorded with Knight. The second album was to be all new material, but at the time of the settlement in mid-1969 Hendrix had just disbanded the Experience and was experimenting around with different combinations of musicians before getting to work on his next studio project. Hendrix appeared at Woodstock with a number of these musicians, including his old Army buddy Billy Cox on bass. The two of them soon began to work up a live set with drummer Buddy Miles, who had made a guest appearance on the last Experience album, Electric Ladyland. The new three-piece group, calling itself Band Of Gypsys, played a two-night engagement at New York's Madison Square Garden over the New Year's holiday, using the best performances from both nights to compile a live album that was released by Capitol the following spring. Among the new songs that made their debut on Band Of Gypsys was Message To Love. The song is a fair indication of the direction that Hendrix's music was beginning to take.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Jiving Sister Fanny
Source:    CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Abkco
Year:    Recorded 1969, released 1975
    Although it first appeared as the B side of Mick Jagger's 1975 single Out Of Time, Jiving Sister Fanny was actually recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1969. Out Of Time was even older, however, having been recorded by Jagger as a guide track for a 1966 Chris Farlowe single that Jagger produced using the actual instrumental track from that single. By 1975 both tracks (along with all of the '60s Rolling Stones recordings) were in the hands of Allen Klein, who paired the two songs up for single release on his Abkco label.

Artist:    West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Title:    As Kind As Summer
Writer(s):    Markley/Harris
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1968
    The first time I heard As Kind As Summer from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band album Volume III-A Child's Guide To Good And Evil I jumped up to see what was wrong with my turntable. A real gotcha moment.

Artist:     Five Americans
Title:     Western Union
Source:     45 RPM single
Writer:     Rabon/Ezell/Durrell
Label:     Abnak
Year:     1967
     One of the biggest hits of 1967 came from a band from Southeastern State College in Durant Oklahoma, although they probably played at least as many gigs in neighboring Texas as in their home state. The Five Americans, having already scored a minor hit with I See The Light the previous year, hit the #5 spot on the national charts with Western Union, featuring a distinctive opening organ riff designed to evoke the sound of a telegraph receiver picking up Morse code.

Artist:    Spencer Davis Group
Title:    Gimme Some Lovin'
Source:    Mono CD: Billboard Top Rock 'N' Roll Hits-1967 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Winwood/Winwood/Davis
Label:    Rhino (original label: United Artists)
Year:    1966
    One of many British bands to have far more success at home than abroad, the Spencer Davis Group nonetheless scored big in the US in early 1967 with two songs co-written and sung by 17-year-old Steve Winwood, who would soon leave the band to form Traffic. The first of these, Gimme Some Lovin' would gain renewed popularity in the 80s when it was prominently featured in The Big Chill, one of the first films to use a 60s nostalgia soundtrack.

Artist:    Kinks
Title:    Till The End Of The Day
Source:    Mono Canadian import CD: 25 Years-The Ultimate Collection (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Ray Davies
Label:    PolyTel (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1965
    Although the Kinks had, by 1965, largely moved beyond their hard-rocking roots into more melodic territory, there were a few exceptions. The most notable of these was Till The End Of The Day, which was released as a single toward the end of the year. Although it was not as big a hit as, say, You Really Got Me, it did prove that the band could still rock out when it wanted to.

Artist:    Bob Dylan
Title:    The Times They Are A-Changin'
Source:    LP: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: The Times They Are A-Changin')
Writer(s):    Bob Dylan
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1964
    I vaguely remember seeing a movie back in the 80s (I think it may have been called The Wanderers) about a street gang from an Italian-American neighborhood somewhere in New York City, circa 1960. I really don't remember much about the plot of the film, but I do remember a bit near the end, where the main character walks down a street in Greenwich Village and hears the sound of Bob Dylan coming from a coffee house singing The Times They Are A-Changin'. I've often thought of that scene and how it symbolized the shift from the conformist culture of the late 50s (represented by the peer pressure-driven gang life) to the turbulence that would characterize the 1960s.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    She's Leaving Home
Source:    LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Capitol/EMI
Year:    1967
    One of the striking things about the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the sheer variety of songs on the album. Never before had a rock band gone so far beyond its roots in so many directions at once. One of Paul McCartney's most poignant songs on the album was She's Leaving Home. The song tells the story of a young girl who has decided that her stable homelife is just too unfulling to bear and heads for the big city. Giving the song added depth is the somewhat clueless response of her parents, who can't seem to understand what went wrong.
Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    She Has Funny Cars
Source:    Mono LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer(s):    Kaukonen/Balin
Label:    Sundazed (original label: RCA Victor)
Year:    1967

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    The Other Side Of This Life
Source:    LP: Bless Its Pointed Little Head
Writer(s):    Fred Neil
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1969
    Recorded at the Fillmore West in October of 1968 and released in 1969, Jefferson Airplane's version of Fred Neil's The Other Side Of This Life shows a side of the band that was seldom heard on their studio albums. The six and a half minute long piece features complex improvisation between guitarists Paul Kantner and Jorma Kaukonen, bassist Jack Casidy and drummer Spencer Dryden, along with strong vocal performances from Kantner, Marty Balin and Grace Slick, with melody and harmony lines interweaving between the three of them. The track rocks out harder than most of their studio recordings as well, prompting other musicians such as Rush's Geddy Lee to rank Bless Its Pointed Little Head among the best live albums ever recorded.

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    White Rabbit
Source:       Mono LP: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer(s):    Grace Slick
Label:    Sundazed (original label: RCA Victor)
Year:    1967
    The first time I heard White Rabbit was on Denver's first FM rock station, KLZ-FM. The station branded itself as having a top 100 (as opposed to local ratings leader KIMN's top 60), and prided itself on being the first station in town to play new releases and album tracks. It wasn't long before White Rabbit was officially released as a single, and went on to become a top 10 hit, the last for the Airplane.

Artist:    Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title:    Ball And Chain
Source:    LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer(s):    Willie Mae Thornton
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1968
    Big Brother And The Holding Company electrified the crowd at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 with their performance of Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton's Ball And Chain. The rest of the world, however, would have to wait until the following year to hear Janis Joplin's version of the old blues tune, when a live performance recorded at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium was included on the LP Cheap Thrills.

Artist:    Blue Cheer
Title:    Rock Me Baby
Source:    Dutch import LP: Vincebus Eruptum
Writer(s):    King/Josea
Label:    Philips
Year:    1968
    The first Blue Cheer LP, Vincebus Eruptum, is cited by some as the first heavy metal album, while others refer to it as proto metal. However you want to look at it, the album is dominated by the feedback-laden guitar of Leigh Stephens, as can be plainly heard on their version of B.B. King's classic Rock Me Baby. Although there seem to be very few people still around who actually heard Blue Cheer perform live, the power trio has the reputation of being one of the loudest bands in the history of rock music. 

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 1717 (starts 4/26/17)

This one's kind of hard to describe. It starts with a slightly twisted country song and ends on a note of desperation. In between it varies between light and darkness. Strange stuff, but cool nonetheless.

Artist:    Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Title:    Cosmic Cowboy
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Michael Martin Murphy
Label:    United Artists
Year:    1973
    The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has gone through several different styles over the years. Formed in 1966 by Jeff Hanna and Bruce Kunkel (and soon expanded to six members, including a young Jackson Browne), the group started as a jug band, releasing a pair of albums on the Liberty label before switching to electric instruments in 1968. By that point the band had already gone through several personnel changes, including the departure of Kunkel and Browne, and the addition of Chris Darrow and John McEuen. The next pair of albums were not commercially successful, and the band went on hiatus for about six months in 1969. The emerged from this self-imposed exile with a new contract and more artistic freedom, releasing their most successful album to date, Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy, in 1970. The album included their hit cover version of Jerry Jeff Walker's Mr. Bojangles, which put the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at the forefront of the burgeoning country-rock movement of the early 1970s. In 1972 the band released Will The Circle Be Unbroken, a landmark collaboration with such country legends as Roy Acuff, Doc Watson and Mother Maybelle Carter, among others. The following year they released the live album Stars And Stripes Forever, which included the single Cosmic Cowboy. The band continued in a country-rock vein for the rest of the 1970s, including a stretch when they were known simply as the Dirt Band. By the 1980s, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (full name restored) was releasing records exclusively to country radio stations, and having great success with songs like Fishin' In The Dark.

Artist:    Joni Mitchell
Title:    Big Yellow Taxi
Writer(s):    Joni Mitchell
Label:    Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1970

Artist:      Pentangle
Title:     Way Behind the Sun
Source:      LP: The Pentangle
Writer(s):    arr. Cox/Jansch/McShee/Renbourne/Thompson
Label:    Reprise
Year:     1968
    Every member of the Pentangle was an established member of the British folk music community, making Pentangle a folk supergroup by definition. Using elements of jazz and rock mixed with traditional folk music, they had a successful run up through the mid 1970s. This track from the first album is an adaptation of Rollin' and Tumblin' with new lyrics and a more sophisticated arrangement than better known versions by Cream and Johnny Winter.

Artist:        Ten Years After
Title:        A Sad Song
Source:    CD: Stonedhenge
Writer:        Alvin Lee
Label:        Deram
Year:        1969

Artist:    Bloodrock
Title:    D.O.A.
Source:    CD: Bloodrock 2
Writer(s):    Cobb/Grundy/Hill/Pickens/Rutledge
Label:    One Way (original label: Capitol)
Year:    1970
    Bloodrock gained infamy in 1970 with the inclusion of D.O.A. on their second LP, a song reputed to be the cause of more bad acid trips than any other track ever recorded. Although the origins of the song are popularly attributed to a plane crash that killed several student atheletes in October of 1970, the fact that the album was already in the hands of record reviewers within a week of that event makes it unlikely that the two are related. The more likely story is that it was inspired by band member Lee Pickens's witnessing of a friend crashing his light plane a couple years before. Regardless of the song's origins, D.O.A. has to be considered one of the creepiest recordings ever made.

Artist:    Alice Cooper
Title:    Halo Of Flies
Source:    LP: Killer
Writer:    Cooper/Smith/Dunaway/Bruce/Buxton
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1971
    According to Alice Cooper, Halo Of Flies was written to prove the band could do progressive rock in the vein of King Crimson. It ended up being a concert favorite and holds up as well if not better than any of Cooper's recordings.

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:    Emerson, Lake And Palmer
Title:    Jerusalem
Source:    CD: Brain Salad Surgery
Writer(s):    Blake/Perry
Label:    Rhino (original label: Manticore)
Year:    1973
    The opening track of Emerson, Lake And Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery album, Jerusalem, was released as a single, but the BBC (which at that time had a monopoly on the British airwaves) refused to play it. Apparently they thought that a hard rock recording of what had come to be considered a hymn was a bit sacreligious. Drummer Carl Palmer, however, still has a copy of the single on his jukebox.

Artist:    Renaissance
Title:    Black Flame
Source:    LP: Turn Of The Cards
Writer(s):    Dunford/Thatcher
Label:    Sire
Year:    1974
    Formed in 1969 by former Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, Renaissance was one of the first bands to merge rock, classical and jazz into a coherent whole. By 1974 the band was incorporating excerpts from classical pieces (mostly from the Romantic period) into what was otherwise progressive rock, with very few jazz elements remaining. The lineup had also changed, with a greater emphasis being placed on the vocals of Annie Haslam, who had joined the group in the early 1970s. Black Flame, from the band's fifth LP, Turn Of The Cards, is fairly representative of Renaissance at its most popular.

Artist:    Queen
Title:    The Prophet's Song
Source:    LP: A Night At The Opera
Writer(s):    Brian May
Label:    Virgin (original label: Elektra)
Year:    1975

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Gimme Shelter
Source:    LP: Let It Bleed
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    London
Year:    1969
    Following a strong positive reaction, both critically and commercially, to their 1968 album Beggar's Banquet album, the Rolling Stones showed that they were around to stay with the follow up LP, Let It Bleed. The album starts off with Gimme Shelter, an anthemic song on a par with Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Woman. In addition to some of the band's most powerful lyrics (including the repeated line "Rape, murder! It's just a shot away! It's just a shot away!") the tune features prominent guest vocals from Merry Clayton, who reported was called in by producer Jack Nitzsche at around midnight to add her part during the mixdown phase. Gimme Shelter was the first Rolling Stone song to feature Keith Richards using open tuning rather than the standard EADGBE tuning.

Monday, April 17, 2017



Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Come Together
Source:    LP: Abbey Road
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Apple
Year:    1969

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Apple/Parlophone
Year:    1970

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Because
Source:    LP: Abbey Road
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Apple
Year:    1969

Artist:    George Harrison
Title:    Ski-ing
Source:    CD: Wonderwall Music
Writer(s):    George Harrison
Label:    Apple
Year:    1968

Artist:    Spirit
Title:    Straight Arrow
Source:    CD: Spirit
Writer(s):    Jay Ferguson
Label:    Ode/Epic/Legacy
Year:    1968

Artist:    Steppenwolf
Title:    Magic Carpet Ride
Writer(s):    Moreve/Kay
Label:    Priority (original label: Dunhill)
Year:    1968

Artist:    Blues Magoos
Title:    She's Coming Home
Source:    LP: Psychedelic Lollipop
Writer(s):    Atkins/Miller
Label:    Mercury
Year:    1966

Artist:    Music Machine
Title:    I've Loved You
Writer(s):    Sean Bonniwell
Label:    Big Beat (original label: Original Sound)
Year:    1967

Artist:    Doors
Title:    The Unknown Soldier
Writer:    The Doors
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1968

Artist:    Acid Gallery
Title:    Dance Around The Maypole
Writer(s):    Roy Wood
Label:    Rhino (original label: CBS)
Year:    1969

Artist:    Bob Dylan
Title:    Pledging My Time
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    Bob Dylan
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1966

Artist:    Simon and Garfunkel
Title:    The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine
Writer(s):    Paul Simon
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1966

Artist:     Beach Boys
Title:     Let's Go Away For Awhile
Writer:     Brian Wilson
Label:     Capitol
Year:     1966

Artist:    Monkees
Title:    Salesman
Writer(s):    Craig Smith
Label:    Rhino (original label: Colgems)
Year:    1967

Artist:    Ronnie Burns
Title:    Exit Stage Right
Writer(s):    Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb
Label:    Rhino (original label: Spin)
Year:    1967

Artist:    Pink Floyd
Title:    See Emily Play
Writer(s):    Syd Barrett
Label:    Capitol (original label: Tower)
Year:    1967

Artist:    Eric Burdon and the Animals
Title:    When I Was Young
Writer:    Burdon/Briggs/Weider/Jenkins/McCulloch
Year:    1967

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    Foxy Lady
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1967

Artist:    Yardbirds
Title:    The Train Kept A-Rollin'
Writer(s):    Bradshaw/Mann/Kay
Label:    Epic
Year:    1965

Artist:     Kinks
Title:     A Well Respected Man
Source:     LP: Kinkdom
Writer:     Ray Davies
Label:     Reprise
Year:     1965

Artist:    Family Tree
Title:    Live Your Own Life
Writer(s):    Segarini/Dure
Label:    Rhino (original label: Mira)
Year:    1966

Artist:    Fireballs
Title:    Bottle Of Wine
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Tom Paxton
Label:    Atco
Year:    1967

Artist:     Beacon Street Union
Title:     The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Source:     LP: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Writer(s):    Ulaky/Wright
Label:    M-G-M
Year:     1968

Artist:    Fire Birds
Title:    No Tomorrows
Writer(s):    Firebirds
Label:    Arf! Arf! (original label: Crown)
Year:    1969

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    Two Heads
Source:    LP: After Bathing At Baxter's
Writer(s):    Grace Slick
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1967

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    Plastic Fantastic Lover
Source:    CD: Surrealistic Pillow
Writer(s):    Marty Balin
Label:    RCA/BMG Heritage
Year:    1967

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    The Last Wall Of The Castle
Source:    LP: After Bathing At Baxter's
Writer:    Jorma Kaukonen
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1967

Artist:    Blues Project
Title:    Parchman Farm
Source:    CD: The Blues Project Anthology
Writer(s):    Mose Allison
Label:    Polydor
Year:    Recorded 1965, released 1997

Artist:    Blues Project
Title:    The Flute Thing
Source:    LP: Projections
Writer(s):    Al Kooper
Label:    Verve Forecast
Year:    1966

Artist:    Blues Project
Title:    Gentle Dreams
Writer(s):    Katz/Kuhlberg
Label:    Polydor (original label: Verve Forecast)
Year:    1967

Artist:    Strawberry Alarm Clock
Title:    Incense And Peppermints
Writer(s):    Carter/Gilbert/Weitz/King
Label:    Rhino (original label: Uni)
Year:    1967

Artist:    Third Bardo
Title:    I'm Five Years Ahead Of My Time
Writer(s):    Evans/Pike
Label:    Zonophone (original label: Roulette)
Year:    1967

Artist:    Tol-Puddle Martyrs
Title:    Social Cell
Writer(s):    Peter Rechter
Label:    Secret Deals (original labels: Pacific/Spiral)
Year:    1967

Artist:    Procol Harum
Title:    A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Source:    45 RPM single (simulated stereo reissue)
Writer(s):    Brooker/Reid/Fisher
Label:    A&M (original label: Deram)
Year:    1967

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 1716 (starts 4/19/17)

This week it's all about the darkness, from the antics of elves (who knows what they're really all about, anyway?) to the sadistic practices of Tommy's Cousin Kevin, with all kinds of dark matter in between.

Artist:    Steeleye Span
Title:    Seven Hundred Elves
Source:    LP: Now We Are Six
Writer(s):    Trad. arr. Steeleye Span
Label:    Chrysalis
Year:    1974
    One of Steeleye Span's most popular albums, Now We Are Six had a title with a double meaning: it was the band's 6th LP and with the addition of drummer Nigel Pegrum the band now had six members. Not that previous albums had been drumless. Studio drummers had been used extensively on previous albums, but it was felt that the time was right for the addition of a full-time drummer to further the group's move towards a blend of tradition English folk music and rock. The final track on side one of the original LP, Seven Hundred Elves, combines traditional lyrics with music written by the band members to create a unique hybrid. Steeleye Span's popularity continued to grow until the advent of punk rock turned British audiences against anything perceived as old-fashioned, including the various folk-rock bands that had flourished earlier in the decade.

Artist:    Pink Floyd
Title:    Dark Side Of The Moon-part two
Source:    CD: Dark Side Of The Moon
Writer(s):    Gilmour/Mason/Waters/Wright
Label:    Capitol (original label: Harvest)
Year:    1973
    Usually when you hear Pink Floyd's Money, from the album Dark Side Of The Moon, on the radio, that's pretty much it. As the song fades out, you maybe hear a jingle, or a DJ talking, or even another song from some other group. What you rarely, if ever, hear is the rest of the album side, even though the next song, Us And Them, actually overlaps the end of Money on the album itself. In fact, all the songs on side two run together as one piece, which is how it is being presented on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion. So if you want to hear Us And Them, Any Colour You Like, Brain Damage and Eclipse, don't touch your radio dial (except to turn up the volume, of course).

Artist:    Uriah Heep
Title:    Tales
Source:    LP: The Magician's Birthday
Writer(s):    Ken Hensley
Label:    Mercury
Year:    1972
    In a sense, The Magician's Birthday can be seen as a sequel to Uriah Heep's fourth album, Demons And Wizards. Both albums have fantasy themes, augmented with cover art from Roger Dean, and feature songs from various band members. The dominant songwriter was Ken Hensley, who, in addition to providing the album's concept, wrote several fine tunes such as Tales, a personal favorite of mine (that somehow has escaped being on any HermitRadio playlists before now).

Artist:    Deep Purple
Title:    Child In Time
Source:    LP: Deep Purple In Rock
Writer(s):    Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1970
    One of the most powerful antiwar songs ever recorded, Child In Time appeared on the LP Deep Purple In Rock. The album is generally considered to be the beginning of the band's "classic" period and features the lineup of Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Ian Gillan (vocals), Roger Glover (bass), Jon Lord (keyboards) and Ian Paice (drums). The song itself (which runs over ten minutes in length) was a mainstay of early 70s rock radio stations, but is rarely heard on modern classic rock stations.

Artist:    King Crimson
Title:    The Court Of The Crimson King
Source:    CD: In The Court Of The Crimson King
Writer:    MacDonald/Sinfield
Label:    Discipline Global Mobile (original label: Atlantic)
Year:    1969

Artist:    Who
Title:    Cousin Kevin
Source:    CD: Tommy
Writer(s):    John Entwhistle
Label:    MCA (original label: Decca)
Year:    1969
    Although most of the rock-opera Tommy was written by guitarist Pete Townshend, a few select tracks came from other sources. One such track was bassist John Entwhistle's composition Cousin Kevin, one of a series of songs about Tommy's growing-up years. Kevin is a bully who sees an easy target in his blind, deaf and mute cousin, and in the song muses about the various tortures he can inflict upon him.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Stuck in the Psychedelic Era # 1715 (starts 4/12/17)

All kinds of Good Things this week, including artists sets from Paul Revere and the Raiders and the Music Machine.
Artist:    Simon and Garfunkel
Title:    The Sound Of Silence
Source:    LP: Sounds of Silence
Writer:    Paul Simon
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1966
    The Sound Of Silence was originally an acoustic piece that was included on Simon and Garfunkel's 1964 debut album, Wednesday Morning 3AM. The album went nowhere and was soon deleted from the Columbia Records catalog. Simon and Garfunkel themselves went their separate ways, with Simon moving to London and recording a solo LP, the Paul Simon Songbook. While Simon was in the UK, producer John Simon, who had been working with Bob Dylan on his Highway 61 Revisited album, pulled out the master tape of The Sound Of Silence and got several of the musicians who had been working on the Dylan LP to add electric instruments to the Simon And Garfunkel track. The song was released to local radio stations, where it garnered enough interest to get the modified recording released as a single. It turned out to be a huge hit and prompted Paul Simon to move back to the US and reunite with Art Garfunkel. The rest, as they say, is history.

Artist:    Jefferson Airplane
Title:    Tobacco Road
Source:    LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer(s):    John D. Loudermilk
Label:    RCA Victor
Year:    1966
    In their early days Jefferson Airplane, like most of their contemporaries, included several cover tunes in their repertoire. Unlike many other bands, however, the Airplane managed to stamp all of their covers with their own unmistakable sound. One excellent example of this is the Airplane's version of Tobacco Road, a song by John D. Loudermilk that had been a hit for the British invasion band Nashville Teens in 1964. The Airplane version, which appears on their debut LP, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, takes an entirely different approach than the Teens' rendition (or the similarly styled Blues Magoos version recorded around the same time as the Airplane's), laying off the power chords in favor of a jazzier approach more in tune with guitarist Jorma Kaukonen's style of playing.

Artist:    Grateful Dead
Title:    The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
Source:    CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released on LP: The Grateful Dead
Writer(s):    McGannahan Skjellyfetti
Label:    Rhino (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year:    1967
    The Grateful Dead's debut single actually sold pretty well in the San Francisco bay area, where it got airplay on top 40 stations from San Francisco to San Jose. Around the rest of the country, not so much, but the Dead would soon prove that there was more to survival than having a hit record. Writing credits on The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) were given to McGannahan Skjellyfetti, which like the Rolling Stones' Nanker Phelge was a name used for songs written by the entire band (it took up less space on the label).

Artist:    Steppenwolf
Title:    Magic Carpet Ride
Source:    CD: Steppenwolf the Second
Writer(s):    Moreve/Kay
Label:    MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year:    1968

Artist:    Paul Revere And The Raiders
Title:    Good Thing
Source:    LP: The Spirit Of '67
Writer(s):    Lindsay/Melcher
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1966
    From 1965 to 1967 Paul Revere And The Raiders were on a roll, with a string of six consecutive top 20 singles, four of which made the top 5. Among these was Good Thing, a tune written by lead vocalist Mark Lindsay and producer Terry Melcher (sometimes referred to as the "fifth Raider"). The song first appeared on the Spirit Of  '67 LP in 1966, and was released as a single late that year. The song ended up being the Raiders' second biggest hit, peaking at # 4 in early 1967.

Artist:    Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title:    Steppin' Out
Writer(s):    Revere/Lindsay
Label:    Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year:    1965
    1965 was the year that Paul Revere and the Raiders hit the big time. The Portland, Oregon combo had already been performing together for several years, and had been the first rock band to record Louie Louie in the spring of 1963, getting airplay on the West Coast and Hawaii but losing out nationally to another Portland group, the Kingsmen, whose version was recorded the same month as the Raiders'. While playing in Hawaii the group came to the attention of Dick Clark, who was looking for a band to appear on his new afternoon TV program, Where The Action Is. Clark introduced the band to Terry Melcher, a successful producer at Columbia Records, which led to the Raiders being the first actual rock band signed by the label. Appearing on Action turned out to be a major turning point for the group, who soon became the show's defacto hosts as well as house band. The Raiders' first national hit in their new role was Steppin' Out, a song written by Revere and vocalist Mark Lindsay about a guy returning from military service (as Revere himself had done in the early 60s, reforming the Raiders upon his return) and finding out his girl had been unfaithful. Working with Melcher, the Raiders enjoyed a run of hits from 1965-67 unequalled by any other Amercian rock band of the time.

Artist:    Paul Revere And The Raiders
Title:    Our Candidate
Source:    LP: The Spirit Of '67
Writer(s):    Mike Smith
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1966
    Paul Revere And The Raiders continued their winning ways with the release of their second LP of 1966. The Spirit Of '67, like its predecessor Midnight Ride, featured a mix of cover songs and originals, including My Candidate from drummer Mike "Smitty" Smith. The Spirit Of '67 was, in a sense, an ending for the group, however. Future albums would feature studio musicians extensively, and virtually all the material would come from the pens of Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay, leading to most of the other members (including Smitty) leaving the band altogether.

Artist:     Cream
Title:     Mother's Lament
Source:     CD: Disraeli Gears
Writer:     Trad. Arr. Cream
Label:     Polydor (original US label: Atco)
Year:     1967
     The shortest-ever Cream recording was an old English drinking song called Mother's Lament. Vocals on the song were led by drummer Ginger Baker, and the track was chosen to close out the Disraeli Gears album. By one of those odd coincidences of the music industry, the album was issued in Europe on the Polydor label (as were many cutting-edge bands of the time, including the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Procol Harum and the Who), which at the time did not issue records in the US. By the late 1980s, however, Polydor was well established in the US and all the Cream albums on Compact Disc were released under the Polydor imprint.

Artist:     Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:     Manic Depression
Source:     LP: Are You Experienced?
Writer:     Jimi Hendrix
Label:     Legacy (original US label: Reprise)
Year:     1967

Artist:    Bob Dylan
Title:    All Along The Watchtower
Source:    CD: The Best Of The Original Mono Recordings (originally released on LP: John Wesley Harding)
Writer(s):    Bob Dylan
Label:    Columbia/Legacy
Year:    1967
    One of the best known songs by the Jimi Hendrix Experience is their cover of Bob Dylan's All Along The Watchtower from the Electric Ladyland album. That version of the song has proved so enduring that Dylan himself now uses the Hendrix arrangement when he performs the piece live. The original recording of the song was on Dylan's 1967 LP John Wesley Harding, the last Dylan album to be mixed in both stereo and mono. This week we have the mono version of the song.

Artist:    Beatles
Title:    Fixing A Hole
Source:    LP: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer(s):    Lennon/McCartney
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1967
    The first Beatle album to appear with the same tracks in the same order on both US and UK versions was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The only differences between the two were a lack of spaces in the vinyl (called "banding") on the UK version and a bit of gobbledygook heard at the end of the record (but only if you did not have a turntable that automatically lifted the needle out of the groove after the last track). Said gobbledygook is included after A Day In The Life on the CD as a hidden track if you really want to hear what it sounds like. What does this have to do with the song Fixing A Hole? Absolutely nothing, but I thought I'd tell you about it nonetheless.

Artist:    Traffic
Title:    Dear Mr. Fantasy
Source:    LP: Progressive Heavies (originally released on LP: Heaven Is In Your Mind)
Writer(s):    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 the title track of Traffic's Mr. Fantasy album.

Artist:    Electric Prunes
Title:    Get Me To The World On Time
Source:    Mono CD: Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era (originally released on LP: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) and as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Tucker/Jones
Label:    Rhino (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1967
    With I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) climbing the charts in early 1967, the Electric Prunes turned to songwriter Annette Tucker for two more tracks to include on their debut LP. One of those, Get Me To The World On Time (co-written by lyricist Jill Jones) was selected to be the follow up single to Dream. Although not as big a hit, the song still did respectably on the charts (and was actually the first Electric Prunes song I ever heard on FM radio).

Artist:     Standells
Title:     Try It
Writer:     Levine/Bellack
Label:     Rhino (original label: Tower)
Year:     1967
     After a series of singles written by producer Ed Cobb had resulted in diminishing returns, the Standells recorded Try It, a tune co-written by Joey Levine, who would rise to semi-anonymous notoriety as lead vocalist for the Ohio Express, a group that was essentially a vehicle for the Kazenetz/Katz production team, purveyors of what came to be called "bubble gum" music. The song itself was quickly banned on most radio stations under the assumption that the phrase "try it" was a call for teenage girls to abandon their virginity. The fact is that nowhere in the song does the word "teenage" appear, but nonetheless the song failed to make a dent in the charts, despite its catchy melody and danceable beat, which should have garnered it at least a 65 rating on American Bandstand.

Artist:    Buffalo Springfield
Title:    Everybody's Wrong
Source:    CD: Buffalo Springfield
Writer:    Stephen Stills
Label:    Atco
Year:    1966
    Buffalo Springfield is one of those rare cases of a band that actually sold more records after disbanding than while they were still an active group. This is due mostly to the fact that several members, including Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Richie Furay and Jim Messina, went on to greater success in the 1970s, either with new bands or as solo artists. In the early days of Buffalo Springfield Stephen Stills was the group's most successful songwriter. The band's only major hit, For What It's Worth, was a Stills composition that was originally released shortly after the group's debut LP, and was subsequently added to later pressings of the album. Another, earlier, Stills composition from that first album was Everybody's Wrong, a somewhat heavy piece of folk-rock.

Artist:    Donovan
Title:    There Is A Mountain
Source:    British import CD: Mellow Yellow (originally released in US as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Donovan Leitch
Label:    EMI (original label: Epic)
Year:    1967
    1967 was a year that saw Donovan continue to shed the "folk singer" image, forcing the media to look for a new term to describe someone like him. As you may have already guessed, that term was "singer-songwriter." On There Is A Mountain, a hit single from 1967, Donovan applies Eastern philosophy and tonality to pop music, with the result being one of those songs that sticks in your head for days.

Artist:    Max Frost And The Troopers
Title:    It's Wrong
Source:    CD: Shape Of Things To Come
Writer(s):    Hector/Wibier
Label:    Captain High (original label: Tower)
Year:    1968
    The first thing you need to know about Max Frost And The Troopers is that they were a fictional rock band featured in the film Wild In The Streets. Sort of. You see, in the movie itself the band is never actually named, although Max (played by Christopher Jones) does refer to his followers as his "troops" throughout the film. The next thing you need to know is that Shape Of Things To Come was a song used in the film that became a hit record in 1968. The song itself was written by the Brill building songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (who also wrote Kicks and Hungry for Paul Revere and the Raiders) and was recorded by studio musicians, with vocals by Paul Wibier. The song, along with several other Barry/Weil tunes used in the film, was credited not to Max Frost and the Troopers, but to the 13th Power on the film's soundtrack LP, which was released on Capitol's Tower subsidiary label. After Shape Of Things To Come (the song) became a hit, producer Mike Curb commissioned an entire album by Max Frost And The Troopers called, naturally, Shape Of Things To Come. The band on this album was actually Davie Allan And The Arrows (who had for several years been recording mostly instrumental tunes for Curb for use on movie soundtracks) fronted by vocalist Paul Wibier (yeah, him again). This album was also released in 1968 on the Tower label, and featured mostly songs written (or co-written) by Wibier himself, such as It's Wrong. The name Max Frost And The Troopers popped up in a couple more film soundtracks before being permanently retired by the end of the year.

Artist:    Earth Island
Title:    This Island Earth
Source:    LP: We Must Survive
Writer(s):    Liska/Vanderwoert
Label:    Philips
Year:    1969
    Earth Island was a band from Hollywood, California, that released one album on the Philips label in 1969. The album, We Must Survive, was produced by Kim Fowley, who somehow managed to be right in the thick of both the London and Hollywood psychedelic scenes in the late 1960s. We Must Survive can best described as environmentally conscious light pop music with psychedelic touches, as can be heard on This Island Earth.

Artist:    Gonn
Title:    Blackout Of Gretely
Writer(s):    Garrett/Moore
Label:    Rhino (original label: Emir)
Year:    1966

Artist:    John Sebastian
Title:    Red-Eye Express
Source:    LP: The Big Ball (originally released on LP: John B. Sebastian)
Writer(s):    John Sebastian
Label:    Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1970
    John Sebastian's first solo album is one of those cases where the story behind the album is more interesting than the album itself. Sebastian had been the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the Lovin' Spoonful during their period of greatest success (1965-67), but had left the group in early 1968 to pursue a solo career. The band tried to carry on without him, but after a string of commercial failures disbanded in early 1969. Meanwhile, Sebastian had been putting together tracks like Red-Eye Express for his debut solo album with the help of many of his old friends from his pre-Spoonful days as a struggling folk singer in New York's Greenwich Village, including (among others) David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, several months before they began recording together as a group. By early 1969 the album was ready to be released, but a series of unexpected problems delayed the album for over a year. The most pertinent of these problems was the fact that MGM records felt that the Lovin' Spoonful still owed them one more album under their previous contract with Kama Sutra Records, which had been distributed by MGM. Since the Spoonful no longer existed, MGM wanted to release Sebastian's album in its place, despite the fact that Sebastian had left the band the previous year. Sebastian and his manager, Bob Cavallo, felt differently, and made a deal with producer Paul Rothchild to get the album released on the Reprise label. Reprise head Mo Ostin bought out Sebastian's Kama Sutra contract and prepared to release the album, John B. Sebastian, in spring of 1969. MGM fought the move, however, and the album's release was delayed until 1970, when the album actually appeared on both labels at the same time (albeit with different cover art). Eventually Reprise ended up with the exclusive rights to the album, and the MGM version was withdrawn. During all this legal wrangling Sebastian made an unscheduled appearance at Woodstock (he was there as an audience member, but got drafted to fill time on the second day of the festival following a major rainstorm that left the stage covered in water, making it impossible for electric instruments to be used until it could be cleaned up), which enhanced his reputation and generated interest in the upcoming album, which eventually peaked at the #20 spot on the Billboard album charts.

Artist:    Fleetwood Mac
Title:    Fighting For Madge
Source:    CD: Then Play On
Writer(s):    Mick Fleetwood
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1969

Artist:    Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title:    Oh, Sweet Mary
Source:    LP: Cheap Thrills
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1968

Artist:        Doors
Title:        End Of The Night
Source:    CD: Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine (originally released on LP: The Doors)
Writer:        The Doors
Label:        Elektra
Year:        1967
        Sometimes you run across a song that seems to encapsulate what a band is all about. End Of The Night, from the first Doors album, is one of those songs. Apparently the band members felt the same way, as it was included on the anthology album Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine, despite never being released as a single.

Artist:    Blues Magoos
Title:    (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet
Source:    CD: More Nuggets (originally released on LP: Psychedelic Lollipop)
Writer(s):    Gilbert/Scala/Esposito/Thielhelm
Label:    Rhino (original label: Mercury)
Year:    1966

Artist:    Kinks
Title:    Till Death Do Us Part
Source:    French import 45 RPM EP
Writer(s):    Ray Davies
Label:    Sanctuary
Year:    Recorded 1968, released 2016
    From 1968 we have a Kinks rarity that only appeared briefly under the end credits of a film version of a British TV show. Till Death Do Us Part was a popular situation comedy that became the inspiration for an even more popular (and culturally significan) American situation comedy: All In The Family. The British show was popular enough to warrant a movie version (that was apparently out of continuity with the series itself), which itself spawned a 1972 sequel. The theme song for the film was composed by Ray Davies and performed by the Kinks, but, to my knowledge, remained unreleased until Record Store Day Black Friday of 2016, when it was included on a French EP containing four Kinks songs from 1968.

Artist:      Lemon Pipers
Title:     Green Tambourine
Source:      European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released in US as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s):    Leka/Pinz
Label:    Sony Music (original label: Buddah)
Year:     1967
     After a promising start in early 1967 signing and releasing albums by respected artists like Johnny Winter and Captain Beefheart, Buddah Records acquired a reputation as the "bubble gum" label the following year with a string of hits by groups like the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. In between, there was a nice little piece of psychedelia called Green Tambourine by a band called the Lemon Pipers. Because of
Buddah's reputation and subsequent history, however, the song is often mistakenly thought of as the first bubble gum hit.

Artist:    Beacon Street Union
Title:    Blue Avenue
Source:    LP: The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union
Writer(s):    Wayne Ulaky
Label:    M-G-M
Year:    1968
    One of Boston's most popular bands, the Beacon Street Union, had already migrated to New York City by the time their first album, The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union (produced by the legendary Tom Wilson), made its debut in February of 1968. The band itself was made up of Boston University dropouts John Lincoln Wright (lead vocals), Paul Tartachny (guitar, vocals), Robert Rhodes (keyboards, brass), Richard Weisberg (drums), and Wayne Ulaky (bass). Ulaky wrote what was probably the band's best-known song, Blue Avenue. The tune was particular popular in the UK, where it was heard on the Top Gear program. The Beacon Street Union, however, fell victim to hype; in this case the ill-advised attempt on the part of M-G-M records to market several disparate bands as being part of the "boss-town sound". After a second LP, The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens (produced by future Partridge Family impressario Wes Farrell) failed to equal the somewhat limited success of their debut LP, the Beacon Street Union decided to call it quits.

Artist:    Music Machine
Title:    Discrepancy
Source:    CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer:    Sean Bonniwell
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year:    1967
    Discrepancy, one of Sean Bonniwell's most sophisticated recordings with his band the Music Machine, features two simultaneous vocal lines. The main one, sung by Bonniwell (in the left channel) as a single melody line, tells the story of a deteriorating relationship. In the opposite channel we hear a breathy multi-part vocal line that tells the same story from the perspective of the subconscious. The two come together lyrically from time to time to express key concepts such as the line "now I know I'm losing you", only to once again diverge onto their separate tracks. The bridge serves to further unite the two divergent lines with the repeating plea to "tell me what to do". Discrepancy is one of the few tracks recorded by the original Music Machine lineup that was never released on Original Sound Records, either as an LP track or on a 45 RPM single. Instead, the song was included on the LP Bonniwell Music Machine, released by Warner Brothers in 1967.

Artist:    Music Machine
Title:    Talk Talk
Writer(s):    Sean Bonniwell
Label:    Rhino (original label: Original Sound)
Year:    1966
    When it came time for Sean Bonniwell's band, the Music Machine, to go into the studio, the group decided to go for the best sound possible. This meant signing with tiny Original Sound Records, despite having offers from bigger labels, due to Original Sound having their own state-of-the-art eight-track studios. Unfortunately for the band, they soon discovered that having great equipment did not mean Original Sound made great decisions. One of the first, in fact, was to include a handful of cover songs on the Music Machine's first LP that were recorded for use on a local TV show. Bonniwell was livid when he found out, as he had envisioned an album made up entirely of his own compositions (although he reportedly did plan to use a slowed-down version of Hey Joe that he and Tim Rose had worked up). From that point on it was only a matter of time until the Music Machine and Original Sound parted company, but not until after they scored a big national hit with Talk Talk (which had been previously recorded at RCA's Burbank studios) in 1966.

Artist:    Music Machine
Title:    Affirmative No
Source:    Mono CD: Beyond The Garage (originally released on LP: Bonniwell Music Machine)
Writer(s):    Sean Bonniwell
Label:    Sundazed (original label: Warner Brothers)
Year:    1967
    Unlike many of their fellow L.A. bands, who preferred to stay close to home, the Music Machine toured extensively after scoring their big national hit Talk Talk. While on the road the band worked on new material for a second album, booking studio time wherever they happened to be. One of those places was Muscle Shoals, Alabama, which had emerged as a rival to Memphis's Stax Studios as a hotbed of southern soul music. The Machine recorded two tracks there in early 1967, including Affirmative No, a song that manages to have a southern soul vibe without sacrificing any of the Music Machine's trademark garage/punk sound. Although the original group disbanded shortly after the songs were recorded, both tunes were included on the LP Bonniwell Music Machine, joining a couple of previously released Original Sound singles and several tracks recorded later in the year by a new Music Machine lineup.

Title:    His Holy Modal Majesty
Source:    LP: Super Session
Writer(s):    Bloomfield/Kooper
Label:    Sundazed/Columbia
Year:    1968

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    Cat's Squirrel
Source:    CD: This Was
Writer(s):    Trad., arr. Abrahams
Label:    Chrysalis/Capitol (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1968
    Probably the Jethro Tull recording with the least Ian Anderson influence, Cat's Squirrel was recorded at the insistence of record company people, who felt the song was most representative of the band's live sound. The traditional tune was arranged by guitarist Mick Abrahams, who left the band due to creative differences with Anderson shortly thereafter. Cat's Squirrel became a live staple of Abrahams's next band, Blodwyn Pig.

Artist:     Humane Society
Title:     Eternal Prison
Source:     Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer:     Danny Minnich
Label:     Rhino (original label: New World)
Year:     1968
     Simi Valley, California, was home to the Humane Society, a band who, at least on vinyl, showed a decidedly schizophrenic face to the world. The A side of their first single, released on the Liberty label in 1967, was Tip Toe Thru The Tulips (yes, the same song that Tiny Tim became famous for). The B side, on the other hand, was the truly psychotic Knock Knock. The following year they repeated the pattern with another forgettable A side backed with Eternal Prison, one of the most psychedelic tracks ever recorded.