Rock In My World

The BoDeans - She's A Runaway

I can recall the exact moment when I first heard the BoDeans. It was during a car ride from Merrimack, NH to Portsmouth, NH to go to Pease AFB for some reason or another (most likely to shop in the base exchange.) We switched radio stations in search of music, as we always do when commercials interrupt our music. This song was playing, and I hoped the dj would announce the song title/artist. Back then, there was no web site to look it up, and we had to rely on the dj. I hated when they'd play a block of songs and not tell you what it was you just heard. Luckily enough, the jock announced the song and the name of the album, which I promptly ran out and acquired. I still own the vinyl, and I'm seriously considering reconnecting it to the outdated stereo in the basement. I need to hear some of these old albums again, and perform those old rituals, like cleaning the record with my discwasher or blowing dust off the needle.

The BoDeans had a good run, and I loved that they achieved minor fame from the theme song to Party Of Five, but they really did hit their apex with their debut album, which is kind of sad. I enjoyed their brand of sensitive roots rock.

Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army

I can't believe it's been 30 years since this was released.

You know, it still sounds fresh to these old ears. The song was never a hit in the US, but I was a huge fan of the album it appears on, Armed Forces. I still consider it one of the peaks of Costello's long, varied career.

According to Songfacts.com: Costello told Q Magazine in March 2008: "I don't think its success was because of the lyrics. I always liked the idea of a bright pop tune that you could be singing along to for ages before you realize what it is you're actually singing. Of course, the downside of that is some people only hear the tune and never listen to the words. After a while I got frustrated at that." The song's line, "Call careers information/have you got yourself an occupation" refers to the habit of the British army recruiting boys right out of school at age 16. Many of these kids were from poor families, at a time when unemployment was high in Britain.

Steve Forbert - Goin' Down to Laurel

I flip through lots of magazines while I wait in lines, and I have noticed article after article in the ladies mags hyping how to save money on this and that, how to cut the bills, and how to cut back in these trying economic times. I mean, you'd think it was the seventies or something. Don't you people know how to save money already? Didn't your parents teach you this stuff? Oh yeah. I'm old and my parents were Depression babies. I keep forgetting that not ALL of you are as old as I am, and that some Gen X'ers (and whatever the following gens were called)had baby boomer parents who grew up in relative affluence.
I bought mags in the 70's, when I first started out on my own. I needed recipes and advice, since mom was so far away from me, and I couldn't just pick up the phone whenever I wanted (calls from Guam were quite steep.) Back then, every issue was packed with money-saving tips.

What's this got to do with my flashback? Nothing, really. This song is from seventies-era Steve Forbert, though, when he was Alive On Arrival. I can listen to this and think back to when the Dow was in the 600 range, the streets of New York were dirty and gritty, and life was tough for many. The more things change, the more they stay the same?

Stevie Wonder - Pastime Paradise
I've been having Stevie Wonder flashbacks since I produced a Powerpoint slide show for my Aunt Mary's birthday a few weeks ago. (I used Isn't She Lovely with silly pictures of old ladies, and it was a hit.) So, keep it hush, since I don't want to be hunted down by the mean old RIAA or anything.

Anyway... Back to Stevie.

Songs In The Key Of Life (1976) is part of the holy trinity of magical Wonder albums, along with Innervisions and Talking Book, and I like to revisit it from time to time. Since it raked in Grammy Awards for Album Of The Year, and both Best Male Pop Vocal and Best Male R & B Vocal, it's a worthy flashback as we approach Grammy Sunday this weekend. I chose Pastime Paradise, since so many people remember the Coolio song, Gangsta's Paradise (also a Grammy winner,) but don't necessarily know just how much borrowing he did from Stevie's original. Most call it "sampling," but I'd call it a cover song. Coolio changed some lyrics and added that memorable bass line, giving the song more urgency, but it's still a cover.

Monday, when I participated in the Monday Movie Meme, I totally spaced out and forgot one of my favorite musicals: Little Shop Of Horrors. Sticks was in the pit band for a community theater production, and it was one of the best I've ever seen. The movie was meh, but I did love Ellen Green as Audrey and Steve Martin killed (literally!) as that demented dentist (people will pay you to be inhumane!)

The songs are all based in sixties pop, complete with Motown and girl-group sounds.

These songs are such fun, I decided to feature two of them from the Original Cast Recording of Little Shop Of Horrors (1982). I can never pick my favorite between the two of these.

Franc Luz - Dentist! - The aforementioned demented song about a sick, twisted man's chosen occupation.
Company - Skid Row (Downtown) An anthemic plea to get out of that horrid place.

Fountains Of Wayne - Valley Winter Song

The other day, I was thinking about creating a playlist of songs that aren't Christmas songs, but sound like they could be Christmas songs. I know, it's wordy. Anyway, I was watching TV and saw an L.L. Bean Christmas commercial featuring this song, and it's perfect for the playlist.

This is from the 2003 FOW album, Welcome Interstate Managers, and it fits the playlist. Now, what else to add?

I can think of Low's Just Like Christmas, The Weepies' All That I Want, and Neil Finn's Sweet Secret Peace. Any more ideas?

James - She's A Star
Smiths wannabes, James, never really caught on over here in the States, but they did get some MTV time in the 90's when Laid hit number 2 on the Billboard Heatseekers album chart. Their highest US-charting song, Laid, comes from the album of the same name, and it climbed up to number 3 in Modern Rock Tracks and 61 in the Hot 100. But do I flash back to that song in the car when the radio personality is talking about James? Naaaaah. My brain is stuck on the sweet little pop song, She's A Star, with its meowing slide guitar and soaring chorus. Snark away, real James fans, but this is my favorite James song. I am hopelessly addicted to catchy pop tunes by rock bands.

Sister Hazel - All For You
I was watching the morning news on the Boston Fox station, and I heard some familiar music accompanying one story. I couldn't identify it right away and that always drives me nuts. When the segment ended, I just kept humming the tune to myself. I knew it was a nineties hit, so I tried like hell to spark my memory. Lil Sticks used to love this song, and I knew it was a hit when he was in junior high. Finally, the band name snapped into my consciousness: Sister Hazel. That's the ticket!

It's from the 1997 release,... Somewhere More Familiar, which was the band's second album. All For You reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. I do own the album, but I can recall only a couple of standout songs. The rest was fairly pleasant, but average. I do remember loving the final cut on the cd, Starfish, which Wii Lad relished as a dance-along tot song. Today, it's a bonus song in the flashback.

Graham Parker - White Honey

This week, I spent so much time focusing on the election hoohaa that I pretty much zoned out everything else. To remedy that, I listened to Van Morrison's Tupelo Honey cd in the car, since it seems that is where I do my best listening. (By the way, I highly recommend Morrison to soothe your soul and reclaim your brain. Trust me.) In typical ADD fashion, my mind wandered to Graham Parker's White Honey. Parker pays homage to Morrison's style by invoking the blue-eyed soul, complete with warbly keyboards, driving bass line, and horns. This is one of those Parker songs that I love love, since it's got all of that, plus his snarly vocal. I couldn't wait to get home and drag out Parker's Howlin' Wind album and give it a whirl in the cd player. Whew. My brain was saved.
What election?

Yesterday, I shopped in this very stodgy gift shop in the swanky new section of the Natick Mall, errr, I mean The Natick Collection. (Hoity-toity enough for ya?) This is the kind of store that usually features music like Yanni or Enya or something else from that blah, new-agey, mind-numbing genre in their overhead play, so you'll forget about why you're there and buy an overpriced Willow Tree angel. You know the store. It's the one with the sales lady that wears prissy sweater sets, reeks of Shalimar, and has sports bifocals hanging from a chain around her neck. I strolled in to look at greeting cards, and I was astonished to hear actual rock music. I had to look around! Am I in the right place? I could swear that's Sonic Youth I'm hearing.
This, of course, shook my world. What if I walked into Hot Topic and heard Barry Manilow singing Can't Smile Without You? What if I headed into Gymboree and heard Slipknot blaring while mommies shopped for outfits for their kidlets? That would happen in bizarro world!
Perhaps the gift store clerk flipped the wrong switch and had no idea how to rectify the situation, or maybe she was just a rock and roller under all of the mall sales lady clothing. Who knows. But hearing Teen Age Riot while I skimmed through the birthday cards was a rare treat that I'm certain will not reoccur.
This leads to the flashback. I was tempted to play that great Sonic Youth song, but during the drive home, I started thinking about when it was released. 1988. Lots of good, lasting tunage came out that year, including Tracy Chapman's debut, Fisherman's Blues from The Waterboys, and The Traveling Wilburys' Vol. 1. I think the Pixies' released Surfer Rosa in 88, as well.
I'm know I'm leaving out some choice releases, but I had to focus on the traffic and avoid the Massholes surrounding me, waiting to cut me off at any moment.
Today's flashback is from The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1. I've chosen a couple of deep cuts from the album, Tweeter and the Monkey Man, featuring Dylan on lead vocal and a definite Jeff Lynne production sound, and Not Alone Any More, the Roy Orbison showcase song.

Donnie Iris - Ah! Leah!

Yes, it's totally cheesy, but whenever I hear it, it sends me back to 1981, when I finally moved back to the states from Guam. I had just settled in a duplex in OB (That's Ocean Beach, and I still call it that. I also have an OB decal on my car window to this day.), and I was in radio heaven. After four years living in a place that had one decent radio station, and one so-so backup, I had plenty of choice. There were a few good stations in San Diego, and if I tweaked my antenna just right, I could occasionally pull in KROQ or KLOS from the LA area. I'm relatively certain this song got airplay on those stations, as well as those that played Top 40 songs.

A little factoid about the song: Donnie Iris, who can't stop his burning desire for Leah, was a member of the funk-rock band Wild Cherry. Remember Play That Funky Music, White Boy? He was also a member of The Jaggerz, and wrote a hit song for them, The Rapper. Donnie is still around, too, and performs with Donnie Iris and The Cruisers, mostly near his home in western Pennsylvania.

This week on the Contrast Podcast, the theme was Album Closers, and I chose Elvis Costello's final song from the US release of "This Year's Model", "Radio Radio." I usually put considerable thought into my choice, so I mulled over several choices of what I consider perfect album closers before I settled on the Costello song. Here's a short list:

The Beatles - A Day In The Life, from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Who - Love, Reign O'er Me from Quadrophenia

Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out) from The Bends

Pink Floyd - Eclipse from The Dark Side Of The Moon

Fleetwood Mac - Albatross from English Rose

Elliott Smith - Say Yes from Either/Or

Cat Stevens - Tea For the Tillerman from Tea For the Tillerman

Ben Folds Five - Evaporated from Whatever And Ever Amen

Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks from Led Zeppelin IV

The Clash - Train in Vain from London Calling

Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard from Blue

Patti Smith - Elegie from Horses

Every one of those is a perfect ending to a great album. It is difficult for me to choose one song for today's flashback, so I randomly chose the Ben Folds Five song, "Evaporated."

Music of 1973

Imagine this: you are hit by a car and knocked out, and when you come to, it's 1973. That is the premise of the new ABC series (based on a BBC show), Life On Mars. Sounds cool. If you've seen the trailers or just some stills of the cast and you can remember 1973, you might say, "Groovy," or "Far Out." I mean, check out Michael Imperioli's hair and suit. He looks like he could fit right in with Barney Miller's 12th precinct guys.

Of course, all of this has me flashing back to the fall of 1973, when I was a junior in high school. I heard my first Pink Floyd music over that summer, and though I still leaned toward the schmaltzy pop music of the day, the groundwork was laid for the future rock-loving Nat you have come to know.

The songs are all from Cash Box's Top 100 of the week ending on Oct. 13, 1973:

Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way
Grand Funk Railroad - We're An American Band
Deep Purple - Woman From Tokyo

70's Power Pop Flashback

Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action
The Rubinoos - The Girl
20/20 - Yellow Pills

I'm on a little power pop kick, trying to get out of a funk I've been in all year. Nothing makes me feel better than the blissful sounds of 3 chords chiming out on electric guitars over some soaring harmonies and a driving drum beat. This week's flashback is a three-fer, since we could all use a little lift from the battering of bad news we've been having lately.
This week, those Flamin' Groovies were on my playlist, so join me in flashing back to the power pop of 1976. (The year Dazed And Confused, one of my favorite Linklater movies, takes place!) The Groovies were signed to Sire Records, which was pretty indie in the seventies, with such bands as Talking Heads and The Ramones.
Next up is The Rubinoos, a power pop duo from Berkeley, CA, who signed with a new label, Berserkley Records, in 1975, when they were young teens. Their first record, The Rubinoos, debuted in 1977 and charted a mild hit with a cover of Tommy James' I Think We're Alone Now.
Finally we have 20/20, a Tulsa, OK band with a power pop fanzine named after one of their songs, Yellow Pills. The fanzine went bust in the nineties, but there are several power pop compilations cds available here and there online. I have two of them, and I find them highly addicting, which has sent me on a quest to find the rest.

The Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away

These flashbacks are giving me a headache. Oh wait, maybe it's just the war, the 700 billion dollar bailout, the prospect of a depression, the .....

You get it. I wish I was a million miles away sometimes.

Thank goodness I have music like this Plimsouls song and mood-enhancing candles and bubble bath to help alleviate the pain of it all.

From 1983, here's a power pop classic, A Million Miles Away.

Three Dog Night - The Show Must Go On

This week's flashback occured last Saturday during Sticks' company outing at Canobie Lake Park. Every time I go to an amusement park, I get this Three Dog Night song stuck in my head because of the circusy calliope part that rears its ugly head over and over.

3DN's version is a cover of a Leo Sayer song, which I recall seeing him perform in clown makeup on either The Midnight Special or one of those other pop music shows in the seventies. Sayer's is kind of wistful, folky pop, while 3DN throws some of their signature rockin' pop sound. While it is far from my favorite 3DN song, it's catchy and it makes me want to head out to a fall carnival.

David Naughton - Makin' It

The thing about flashbacks is that they're not always pleasant or welcome, as was the case this week.

I was lazy and a little bit tired on Wednesday, which was brought on by a bout of insomnia the night before. I was, therefore, loafing on the sofa in the afternoon, flipping through channel after channel of television mediocrity, until I hit paydirt: Meatballs! Hot damn, I saw that at the movies in its original release! I remember thinking it was hilarious, even though it's obviously low-budget and fairly predictable. (This movie did not hold up well, and Bill Murray's Tripper character seemed pretty annoying from my old age perspective and without chemical assistance.)
I tuned in about halfway through, so I missed some good stuff, but I did catch the dance scene. This flick is from 1979, so, of course, the dance music is heavily disco based. AAACK! And that song: Makin' It. It's by that guy who used to dance around in a vest and sing "Be a Pepper, drink Dr. Pepper!" (He was also the dude who turned into a werewolf in An American Werewolf In London, which would, I guess, be his greatest career success. And, funny, he's still working, and he can't seem to escape the wolf thing; he was in a movie called Big Bad Wolf in 2006.)

I remember hearing Makin' It on one of the two radio stations I listened to in Guam. Yes, there was more than one, even on an island that's only about 200 square miles. There was an FM station that played the big hits of the day along with some AOR stuff, and a decent AM station that played a good mix of rock, folk, and country, including some progressive music. Anyway, Makin' It was all over that FM station, as they were prone to running a song into the ground, and I kind of liked it at first. It was catchy. But then that Pepper guy got a little too full of himself and thought he was Mr. Pop Star on American Bandstand. Oh come on! Get over yourself, already! After that, I'd flip over to the AM station to escape the disco. I could catch Rickie Lee Jones or The Band on that station, and unlike Rod Stewart or The Stones, they hadn't been sucked into the disco black hole.

Neither Meatballs nor Makin' It has aged well, but at least the song doesn't make me want to smash the speakers any longer. It's still kind of catchy, in a cheesy disco kind of way. So get out your white disco suits and your platform shoes, friends, and shake your butts.

The Rumour - My Little Red Book

Even though I quit my job, I'm filling up my date book with workshops, meetings, girls days out, and the like. I don't know where I'd be without my little red book (well, it's more of a maroon, but that's red, right?) As I stood at my kitchen island filling in dates, I flashed back to this cool song from The Rumour, one of those new-wavy contemporaries of Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. They were on Stiff Records, which was a tres cool label filled with new wave and punk acts. It was so cool that one of their slogans was ""If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth a Fuck."

Graham Parker of The Rumour is still at it, and he's still putting out fine music.

The previous episode of Psychedelic Sunday featured The Incredible String Band, who had bowed out of their Friday night performance at Woodstock 39 years ago. In their stead, a little-known folk singer by the name of Melanie took the stage.

Prior to Woodstock, she'd recorded for Columbia Records and released two singles, one of which, Beautiful People, had minor success in the Netherlands. In a radio interview with WAMC in Albany, NY, Melanie says she was invited to play at the Woodstock festival because she was in the same office building as the organizers. Of course, her career took off after that, and her song, Lay Down (Candles In The Rain), is a tribute to her Woodstock experience and all of the candle-toting hippies in the crowd.

This week's Democratic National Convention has been boring the hell out of me striking up my enthusiasm for the November election. Doesn't it just get your blood pumping, like back in the good old days of the 1968 convention in Chicago? Who needs Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin? We've got three guys with guns, drugs, and walkie talkies, who have the Feds looking into an Obama assassination plot. We've got thousands in a stadium being entertained by the likes of Stevie Wonder!

It's just not that popular to put out a good old-fashioned protest song these days. Sure, there are some, but they never seem to get airplay or become hit singles. The kids are more interested in hearing about a chick kissing a girl or about David Archuleta's crush. Protest songs? We don't need no stinkin' protest songs!

HAH!

I'm flashing back to a fine, angry protest song from Creedence Clearwater Revival. Take that, young people!

Joe Walsh - Turn To Stone

Those American girls gave brilliant performances on the gym floor in Beijing this year, even when the odds seemed stacked against them. (No way in hell that all of those Chinese girls were at least 15. Just no friggin' way.)

I was immediately impressed by Nastia Liukin's elegance and fluidity, but, damn girl, maybe you could smile a little?! I don't think she cracked a grin until she triumphed in the All-around. Perhaps it's a way of psyching out her opponents or something. I don't know. I began to think of her as "Stone Face."

So, here's today's flashback, from the 1972 album, Barnstorm, here's Joe Walsh with Turn To Stone, in honor of the Stone Face and her Olympic feats. (Note: I prefer this version of the song to his 1975 reworking on So What.)

The Incredible String Band - Painting Box

The Incredible String Band was a British folk trio (sometimes duo), whose biggest claim to fame is that they appeared at Woodstock. Due to the downpours on Friday night, the band ditched their plans to play, and were replaced by young Melanie Safka, aka Melanie. She later wrote a big hit song about that appearance, Lay Down (Candles In The Rain.) The Incredible Strings, squeezed between Creedence and Canned Heat, finally appeared on the Woodstock stage on Saturday afternoon, but without a lot of hoopla. They never capitalized on this, and slowly faded away into oblivion. They disbanded in 1974.

But here's a little gem from their critically acclaimed and oddly named album, The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion, released in 1967. Hey, maybe that could be Shrek's favorite album?!

New series here, featuring old songs every week.

This week, with the Olympics in full swing and sports on our minds at the Contrast Podcast, I flashed back to this song, and how my classmates at Lancaster Catholic used to chant the chorus "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye" to taunt the losing opponents' fans, especially when the opponents were from public schools. We had God on our side, after all, so had a right to display cockiness. Go Crusaders!
Here's the 1970 original, from one hit wonders, Steam.

Steam - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow Is Born

Previously on Psychedelic Sunday, I featured Old Man Going from The Pretty Things' groundbreaking 1968 album, S.F. Sorrow. The album was one of the earliest rock operas, preceeding The Who's Tommy (but not surpassing it, by any means.) In true Nat fashion, I presented the songs ass backwards, as Old Man Going is the second-to-the-last song on side two of the album, and is, of course, about the ending of S.F. Sorrow's life. Today, here's the song about S.F. Sorrow's birth. I particularly love the intricately played guitar riff in the beginning of the song, and it reminds me of something, though I cannot put my finger on it at the moment. When the horns and strings come in midway through the song, it transforms into something very Sgt. Pepper-esque.

It's back to the sensational sixties this week, with a band I have not featured before. How could it be that I've been at these psych-rock songs for over two years and I haven't played The Troggs?

When I mentioned The Troggs, did you immediately start singing, "wild thing, you make my heart sing" in your head? Busted! In 1966, that song became their highest-charting single. As a pop-lovin' kid back then, I really didn't like that song. When it played on the radio, I think I'd tune it out of my consciousness, because I wanted to hear singing, not some guy talk-singing for 2 1/2 minutes. I didn't care much for The Troggs until a little pop gem called Love Is All Around hit the airwaves in 1968. Love Is All Around is a subdued ballad with a nice, jangly guitar part, and there are lovely strings, too. And who couldn't love, "my mind's made up by the way that I feel"?

Enjoy.
And Happy Father's Day to all of the dads in psych land.

Lost 80's Tunes
Some might argue that there's a reason these songs aren't played so much, even on classic rock radio, but I like all five of these tunes. My favorite song of the set it Zebra's Who's Behind The Door?, though, due to the whole Zep feeling Zebra established on their debut album. I just read that this album sold 75,000 copies in the first week, which was an astounding number for the times. I also love David & David's Welcome To The Boomtown, mostly because I'm a Baerwald fan.
The rest of the set is fairly metal-ish, but to me that was more acceptable than the synth-pop of the times.
I'm still trying to figure out what the hell the 80's were all about.
Here's your five:
Zebra- Who's Behind The Door?
Autograph - Turn Up The Radio - I know, you always thought this was Def Lepard.
David & David - Welcome To The Boomtown
Triumph - Magic Power
April Wine - Sign Of The Gypsy Queen

Slade - My Life Is Natural

Sometimes, I like to delve into the era spawned by 60's psychedelia, the hard-rockin' early 70's, so this week I bring you: Son Of Psychedelic Sunday!

Slade was a band that never quite became a household name in the US, even as glam artists such as David Bowie, T. Rex, and Sweet were embraced by many mainstream-loving fans. Glam made lots of people nervous, since ambiguous sexuality was a hallmark of the genre, and that's not something 15-year-old record-buying boys felt comfortable with back then. I mean, Alice Cooper and Deep Purple were more what the rocking boys were into, while girls, like my sister Val, were more intrigued by the glam guys.

In their 4-year career, Slade racked up eleven top 5 hits in their home country (England), with five of them hitting number one. Not too shabby. They're best known for their 1984 hit, Run Runaway, and as the original artist of Quiet Riot's mega-hit, Cum On Feel The Noize.

For my choice today, here's Slade with a bonus track from the 2006 reissue of 1972's Slayed?, My Life Is Natural. I love love Noddy Holder's voice, which sounds like Freddy Mercury meets Robert Plant to me. I don't know why this song wasn't included in the original version of Slayed?, since it rocks like crazy. Enjoy.

The Weepies - Antarctica - This husband/wife singer/songwriter duo will release their latest album, Hideaway, next week, but I've heard one song, and I like it quite a bit. I just love Deb Talen's voice, and I hope you will, too.
She & Him - This Is Not A Test - She is actress Zooey Deschanel and he is singer/songwriter M. Ward. Together, they create a magical step back into sixties pop and country (lots more magic than Zooey's appearance in Tin Man last year.)
Sarah Mac Band - Open Fire - When I first heard the song on my Paste sampler, I thought it was Lisa Loeb making some sort of comeback. Not so.
The Raconteurs - Hold Up - Jack White's side project released a follow-up to their fab debut, Broken Boy Soldiers, last month. I just got around to cracking it open, and it's a gem. Consolers of The Lonely reminds me just how much I miss blues-based rock bands and how thankful I am that some of the younger guys won't give up on it.
R.E.M. - Living Well Is The Best Revenge - Accelerate is the best R.E.M. release since Automatic For The People. Yeah, it was a long dry spell, wasn't it? This album rocks!

It's back, baby!

The Yardbirds - Happenings Ten Years Time Ago

This legendary English band catapaulted the careers of three of the rock guitar gods: Clapton, Page, and Beck. This blues-steeped band hinted at psychedelia in much of their early works, and Happenings Ten Years Time Ago is a classic example of this. The song, released in October of 1966, features Page playing colead guitar with Jeff Beck. There is a brilliant fuzzy break about 2 minutes into the tune, and you can definitely pick up on some of the the future Zeppelin sound from Page's deft hands. I learned from songfacts.com that John Paul Jones played bass on the cut, too, which also hints at what is to come.

And those lyrics:
Happenings ten years time ago
Situations we really know
But the knowing is in the mind
Sinking deep into the well of time
Sinking deep into the well of time

Deep, man, deep. Just remember that the knowing is in the mind, man. Oh no, I'm freaking myself out!!

The Bee Gees - Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You

Nearly a decade before they caused perfectly normal people to gyrate under mirrored disco balls, The Bee Gees released a perfectly cool psychedelic record, and it was their debut Polydor album, Bee Gees 1st. This gem is often overlooked, simply because the band became synonymous with white suits, medallions, and Saturday Night Fever. It's worth a visit, though, because the earlier Bee Gees offerings were really good rock records. No, really.

This song carries the signature Bee Gees harmonies, but there's a darkly weird chant opening the song that just creeped out my kid. Really, he yelled from the other room, "Mom, could you turn that off, it's scaring me!" (Obviously, he never saw the Gibb brothers in their white disco suits, since that would really scare the bejesus out of him.)

Anyway, enjoy the trippy Bee Gees. I have no argument with their disco-era tunes, since they really did produce the cream of the crop, and I liked those songs, even back then when I was all "death to disco."

I cracked up when I read the allmusic review of their 1975 album, Main Course. The reviewer says Main Course was "the group's first disco album -- and, for many white listeners, the first disco album they ever purchased." Guilty! But, hey, it's one of the only ones I purchased, too, unless you count those Earth, Wind, & Fire and Ohio Players records. And the one Donna Summer.

Not only did we have crappy weather over the weekend, here in the US, we had to set our clocks ahead and lose an hour of sleep in the wee hours of Sunday. I was just getting used to waking up with the sun peeping through my window, and now I'm back to stumbling in the dark.

I need to laugh.

Hopefully, this set will help:

Flight Of The Conchords - Beautiful Girl (Part-Time Model) - From their Grammy-winning EP, The Distant Future.

Tenacious D - Wonderboy - Just because Jack Black is one of the funniest people on the planet.

Weird Al Yankovic - You're Pitiful - Come on, I can't do a funny music podcast without this guy, and I love that he is poking fun at that sappy James Blunt song.

Barnes & Barnes - Fish Heads - I'm finishing off the set with two classics from my Dr. Demento years. I don't know where to find his show anymore, but I do have a couple of cds. Anyway, one of the Barnes in this band is Bill Mumy, who was also known to me as Will Robinson from the tv show Lost In Space, back in the 60's.

Julie Brown - The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun - Everybody run! This one had a video that was quite popular on MTV back in the day (and can still be seen at YouTube, of course). I still crack up when she gets to the "I ran down, and I said, in her good ear," part.

Atomic Rooster - Night Living

I thought it was high time I started featuring early prog and metal in addition to psych rock. Those genres were born from the experimentation of psychedelia, so it seemed like a logical extension of my psychedelic theme, and it gives me the opportunity to shake things up from time to time.

With a name like Atomic Rooster, you might get the idea that this is a psychedelic rock band anyway, sort of like Strawberry Alarm Clock. Make no mistake, this Rooster was crowing to a different tune. Atomic Rooster, formed by Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer in 1969, was one of the premier English heavy metal/prog rock bands. Crane and Palmer had previously been members of The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, who had a huge hit in 1968 with Fire. That's Crane on the badass Hammond organ part in that song. Palmer didn't stick with Rooster for long, since he went off to drumming fame with Keith Emerson and Greg Lake in their little prog outfit, and was replaced by Paul Hammond. Crane added John Du Cann on guitar, as well, to deepen the band's guitar sound.

I found this little gem of a song in a compilation in Mojo Magazine late last year, Heavy Nuggets, which has been lots of fun to explore. This Atomic Rooster cut was pulled from an anthology of lives, rares, and B-sides, Atomic Rooster: The First 10 Explosive Years.

If you're not a huge prog fan, worry not. This song leans more toward the heavy metal sound. In fact, it reminds me of Deep Purple or of one of the songs from the Heavy Metal soundtrack, which hubby and I played ad nauseum on the car cassette player back in the day. I love the heavy-handed organ in the song, which, when accompanied by the sinister vocals, give this song that dark metal bent.

t's difficult to play just one cut from The Soft Machine's debut album, Volume I, since there really is no defining line from one cut to another, but I'll post Joy Of A Toy, even with the awkward, abrupt ending.

This is a fine piece of jazz-infused psychedelia from a band who, along with Pink Floyd and Tomorrow, led the way in the British psychedelic scene. Although band members Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt have remained relatively obscure to US audiences, they have had long and fruitful solo recording careers. One band member most everyone would recognize is one of the early members, Andy Summers, who went on to a brilliant career in one of the most successful band of the late 70's and early 80's, The Police. Andy was only with the band for a short time, though, so it seems he was not a driving influence in their work.

Joy Of A Toy is an instrumental piece that breaks up two parts of the album opener, Hope For Happiness. It's kind of light and breezy until the last 27 seconds, when the tempo picks up, then slows down again to segue into Hope For Happiness (reprise), which is rather trippy, but features some very avant-garde vocals and a weird organ freak-out midway through the song. I'm only playing Joy Of A Toy today, to spare you of all the freakiness. Perhaps when I'm feeling a bit more freaked up, I will play the entire piece.

The Velvet Underground - Venus In Furs

Psychedelic Sunday has been a weekly feature in my blog for just over two years, but I didn't spotlight anything from The Velvet Underground until November of 2007. What was I smokin'? Each of the eleven songs included on that album deserves a separate post! Venus In Furs is the fourth song on The Velvet Underground & Nico, a groundbreaking 1967debut album from the band. The song was written by Lou Reed with inspiration from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's book of the same name. I've never read the book, but apparently it's about kinky stuff like bondage and sadomasochism. Mistress Nat would approve.

Originally recorded by band members Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison in their NYC loft in July 1965, the song was rearranged for the album cut, and, according to rock critic David Fricke, the final version is a "stark, Olde English-style folk lament." To be sure, the tempo is rather dirge-like, and the lyrics contain masochism references (shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather; whiplash girlchild in the dark; clubs and bells, your servant, dont forsake him; strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart.) Cale's viola wails in the song and gives it that sinister flavor, and Reed plays a guitar with all of its strings tuned to the same note. There is a heartbeat-like thump of a bass drum throughout, and very simple tambourine beat keeps the pace. This is a classic "head" music for me, meant to be heard in a darkened room when I'm in just the right mood.

The song remains beloved by music fans and has been covered by everyone from The Melvins to Smashing Pumpkins to Bettie Serveert. Oliver Stone used it as background music in a scene in that awful Doors movie (clip here.) Why? Well, not only 'cuz it's a cool song, but because of the Andy Warhol link. Warhol, of course, did that famous cover.

As memorable and distinctive as that cover is, I still don't get the banana.

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play

Written by Syd Barrett and recorded in May of 1967, See Emily Play was the second single released by Pink Floyd, following Arnold Layne.

I've read various accountings of the origination of this song, but according to this source, he was quoted in NME in 1974, revealing, "I was sleeping in the woods one night, after a gig we'd played somewhere, when I saw this girl appear before me. That girl is Emily." The wikipedia article claims he later admitted he made this up. Some have speculated that Emily was really Emily Young, the 16-year-old daughter of politician. She was known as "the psychedelic schoolgirl" to those at the UFO club, where Floyd were the house band.

Syd was a druggie and suffered from severe mental problems, so who knows how it really came about.

There is a black and white video on YouTube, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F94vHO7okZQ)which really reminds me more of something you'd have seen on The Monkees tv show. It's psychedelic, man!

Enjoy some good, psychedelic Pink Floyd.

Tinker Taylor - Terry Reid

In the late 60's, psychedelic rock reached its nadir and spawned hard rock and progressive rock. In '68, when The Yardbirds broke up, Jimmy Page was looking to expand his horizons and wanted to rock loud and hard, and was forming a new band. He offered the vocalist job to Terry Reid, who had been in a band called The Jaywalkers. Reportedly, Reid turned it down, suggesting that Page check out a guy named Robert Plant, who had been with Band Of Joy. Bad move on his part? Perhaps. He also turned down a spot in Deep Purple that was filled later by Ian Gillan.

Still, the guy put out some good solo work and is still out there working.
(You can find a London Times podcast online to catch up on what he's up to.)

Here's Terry with a song called Tinker Taylor, from his 1968 album, Bang, Bang You're Terry Reid. This record, by the way, also features a cover of Sonny Bono's song Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down.)

To continue with the countdown:

6. All You Need Is Love - The Beatles - The album closer of 1967's Magical Mystery Tour record, with a hopeful, if naive, message.

5. Viola Lee Blues - The Grateful Dead - The only band to have two appearances in the countdown.

4. Hot Smoke And Sassafras - The Bubble Puppy - Their only hit, which made it to #14 on the pop singles chart in 1969.

3. Hole In My Shoe - Traffic - Trippy sitar music makes this one a stand-out.

2. Nantucket Sleighride - Mountain - Really, this song was tied for first with the next song, but I decided to give Vanilla Fudge the edge with the shorter song. Here is the 17-minute version of Mountain's classic jam.

1. You Keep Me Hangin' On - Vanilla Fudge - A classic slower-tempo cover of The Supremes big hit, with a funky organ part.

That's it for 2007's countdown. Stay tuned for lots of jammin' hippy music all throughout 2008!

Old Man Going - The Pretty Things

Brit band, The Pretty Things, created one of rock's first concept albums, released in 1968, S.F. Sorrow. This album, based on a concept by the band's guitar playing vocalist, Phil May, tells the story of Sebastian F. Sorrow from his birth through his death, and it has been speculated that Pete Townshend borrowed this idea when he wrote Tommy. (And in case you're interested, there is a live recording of S.F. Sorrow, called Resurrection, featuring David Gilmour on guitar, you can read about it here.)

In Old Man Going, our friend Mr. Sorrow is, of course, near the end of his life:

Old man going.

Hopscotch of life will lead you to the grave.
Wet faces line the street, they will not be saved.
Black house youve built it will soon disappear,
Another corporation dig this year.

Old man going.

Traffic thins as you drive slowly by,
A friend wipes a flower from an eye.
Streets filled with bouquets from a cloudy sky
Theyll soon forget the field in which you lie.

Old man going.
Listen at left or here.
----

What a cool band.

The votes are in, and there were quite a few songs with 2 votes or more. I was going to make this a Top 10, but I can't just randomly pick one of the 4 songs that received 2 votes each, so you're getting a Top 13 instead.

There were two songs with 9 votes apiece, 2 songs with 4 votes, 5 songs with 3 votes, and 4 songs garnering 2 votes each, so I'm going to step up and be the tie-breaker! (Next year, I'll figure out a way to give each vote some weight, so I can be more fair about counting down.)

I'll do 7 in this show, and 6 next time.

13. From The Underworld - The Herd - Frampton's pre-Humble Pie group.

12. Pushin' Too Hard - The Seeds - The fuzz guitar and the electric piano work shine in this one.

11. Incense and Peppermints - Strawberry Alarm Clock - A classic of the psychedelic era, but what does it mean?

10. Not Fade Away (live) - The Grateful Dead - The Dead turn a two minute Buddy Holly song into a 10 minute jam.

9. Hey Grandma - Moby Grape - Cool guitar and harmonies from The Dead For People Who Don't Like The Dead.

8. Open My Eyes - Nazz - Rundgren's early work shines in Nazz.

7. Sunrise (Turn On) - The Chesterfield Kings - A modern psychedelic garage band that sounds great, even if they don't bring anything new to the genre.

That's all for part one!

"The Brondesberry Tapes" album was pre-King Crimson Fripp, along with Peter and Michael Giles, released in 1968. This song eventually evolved into a piece, "The Letters", on King Crimson's album, "Islands", according to Bruce Eder of allmusic.com. (I can't vouch for that, having never heard Islands.) I love the little touch of Beach Boys harmony at the 1:15 point, even though it's not exactly psychedelic. What follows that, though, is a bit of fuzz guitar brilliance, which foretold the future of Fripp's career. Enjoy.

Nantucket Sleighride - Mountain

This live cut from Mountain's 1972 live album, Live - The Road Goes On Forever, clocks in at 17:34, while the studio cut of this song is a mere 5:50. What does that spell? J-A-M. Normally, I don't get into extended jams. Once a song passes the 8 or 10-minute mark, my attention wanders and I get impatient. I never would have made it as a Deadhead or Phish Head.

What you'll hear is Leslie West's fabulous guitar work, and Steve Knight's skilled keyboard work. The late Felix Pappalardi's pounding bass stands right up with the rock greats, but this probably isn't the finest example that can be heard of his work. I will get in trouble with the hubby if I leave out the signature drum part from Corky Laing, so there, I said it.

I love the way the two guitarist play off each other at the 12-minute mark, but I still think this is one jam that lasted about 5 minutes too long.

The Herd earned a Top 10 spot in the Brit charts in 1967 with this song, but they were barely known in the US. Just nine years later, though, Herd's original lead singer would go on to chart-topping almost overnight success here here with Frampton Comes Alive.

The opening bells might lead you to believe you're about to rock out to AC/DC's Hell's Bells, but once the piano kicks in, it's obvious that this song is not quite that loud and in-your-face. There's some fuzz guitar, the pleasant voice of Frampton, some requisite Beatles-style trumpet, a little orchestral bombast, and a great funky percussion part.

So, enjoy Frampton before he came alive

I'm feeling the need for another Nazz song in the Psychedelic Sunday series, and it's been a year since I featured a song of theirs. This one's from their 1968 debut album, called The Nazz. This song didn't chart, but it's memorable because of the fuzz guitar, the opening riff that always fools me into thinking I'm going to hear The Who's Let It Rain, and the always great use of that phasing effect. Ga-roovy, baby.

Today, I've got 5 songs from an album never released on CD. These songs are mp3 files, gloriously ripped from the vinyl. This is the best I've heard of these rips, and there are lots of scratchy ones floating around. I do own this on vinyl, but my turntable isn't hooked up and my copy is full of pops and cracks, since it was well-loved.

Enjoy!

Crying In The Night
Crystal - which later appears on Fleetwood Mac's "Fleetwood Mac" album
Long Distance Winner
Lola (My Love)
Don't Let Me Down Again

I Can See Through You - Episode Six

I had never heard of this band until I stumbled upon some songs while searching for mid-late 60's psychedelic tunes in some torrent files. Episode Six was Roger Glover and Ian Gillian's pre-Deep Purple band (and Deep Purple was the first real, hard rocking band I was into besides, well, Led Zep.) They tried like hell to have a hit song, releasing nine singles in Britain without cracking the charts. Such disappoinment probably gave them the stick-to-it-ivness to keep pushing for some recognition. (Either that or they were just too stubborn to quit.)

Anyway, I Can See Through You is a Glover-penned piece of psych-pop, with some cool/weird orchestration at the 1:40 mark, which ebbs and flows sort of like film soundtrack music. I can hear some James Bond flavoring in there at one point, almost like McCartney's Live And Let Die. Groovy, man, groovy.

Back in April, The Bubble Puppy's song Keep Your Mouth Shut Once In Awhile made an appearance on Psychedelic Sunday, and I thought that would be that. After all, who'd heard of them?
I kept going back to that song, though, since I liked it, so I thought I'd look for more. After hearing their 1969 release, A Gathering Of Promises, in its entirety, I realized that I had, indeed, heard this band before! Hot Smoke And Sassafras is their one hit I remember! It's one of those songs that I hear and think to myself, "Oh, that's the name of that song!"
I think the guitars stands out in this song, and the band's guitar-playing duo, Rod Prince and Todd Potter, both do some flaming-hot work here. (You can just hear the Jimi influence, though, can't you, especially near the end of the song.)

Hole In My Shoe - Traffic

Steve Winwood was still a young teenager when he and his older brother joined up with Spencer Davis and Pete York to form The Spencer Davis Group. He quit the group in 1967, when he was still only 19, and joined up with Dave Mason, Chris Wood, and Jim Capaldi, to form Traffic. Although a great deal of Traffic's sound leaned toward blues-rock, particularly when Winwood sang lead, some early Traffic is truly psychedelic. Mr. Fantasy, their first album (also released as Heaven Is In Your Mind in the USA), holds more psych than the rest, including Paper Sun, Utterly Simple, Dear Mr. Fantasy, and Hole In My Shoe. I chose Hole today, mainly because of the sitar music, the odd spoken-word break by a child, and one of the early uses of the Mellotron.

Quicksilver Messenger Service - Mona

It's high time I revisited one of the most highly lauded of the San Francisco scene bands, Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Their second album, Happy Trails, was recorded live and peaked at #27 on Billboard's Pop Album chart in 1969. Side one of the album was an entire suite based on Bo Diddley's Who Do You Love, which I'd love to feature here on Psych. Sunday, but it's quite a marathon piece for short-attention span listeners. (If I get email requests, perhaps I'll just post it anyway.)

Even presenting Mona, another Bo Diddley cover, is challenging, since there is no clear cut-off between it and the following song on the album, Maiden Of The Cancer Moon. (And this is true, really, for the entire album and song segues, since it was recorded live, and this is a jam band piece.)

Here, John Cipollina's guitar work shines in its energetic fluidity. I'm sure Diddley had no idea his song could be so hippified, but, indeed, it works in the psychedelic cowboy style.