The Sound Sandwich - Apothecary Dream / Zig Zag News (single). 1967 USA-California

You gotta like a band with a name such as The Sound Sandwich! The Los Angeles based band, however, hated the moniker (they were originally known as The Chosen Few). Apparently they started as a horn rock band, but the producers didn't want anything to do with them, stating they don't belong on rock albums (ha! I know a lot of people who still feel that way). I would have loved to hear that version myself. In any case, The Sound Sandwich fell apart like so many bands, due to Vietnam, and their guitarist was killed 3 weeks into duty. The others were always going to do a comeback, but it never came together.

'Apothecary Dream' is just simply great. The organ, harmony vocals, and fuzz guitar effects are awesome. There's a bit of The Electric Prunes sound here. A seriously great melody too. Apparently the band spent 2 weeks working on this track, and it was meant to be played on American Bandstand, but the druggy references knocked it out of contention. Apparently they didn't know what 'Zig Zag' meant then... (lol)

And it was the flip side that indeed did the get the exposure. They only spent one day on this track. 'Zig Zag News' starts off in jangly mid-paced garage form. Then it picks up the pace considerably, before slowing down... and picking back up for the finale. Despite this, there's not much of a song here to grab onto. It's a decent track, but the other side is far better and it's too bad it didn't get the radio airplay.

'Apothecary Dream' is part of the compilation above titled 30 Seconds Before the Calico Wall!

10/18/18 (new entry)