45's from the RT collection (Apr)
The Nickel Revolution - Oscar Crunch / What Do You Want To Be (Nothing). 1968 Philips promo (SP). First we have The American Revolution, and now we're rebelling against (or for) nickels. Let's just hope no one names their band Nickelback. Yea. This one almost didn't get past the sample, as the A) side is just stupid. B) side is nice melancholic psychedelia. It just needed a fuzz break, and I probably would have kept it. They just let the premise keep going throughout unfortunately.
The Sweet Bippies - Bubblegum Music / Love, Anyway You Want It. 1968 A&M promo (SP). I think we can presume the name of this band came from the Laugh-In gag. It was, after all, a huge hit in its day. And the band is completely transparent about who they are on 'Bubblegum Music'. The b) side is similar, but I'm digging the organ and echoed voices. Not enough here to keep though.
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy - I'm A Fool / It's So Hard. 1968 Columbia promo (SP). I've read some good things about this band, so I was pretty excited to hear this one. I like me some soft psych, but this seems more geared towards the Vegas set. I'm reading reviews that suggest this 45 is an outlier. OK, that's good.
---end 45s
These all came from the RT collection (Feb-Apr)
The Great Society with Grace Slick - Conspicuous Only In Its Absence. 1968 Columbia (LP). For some reason I had it in my head that The Great Society were pre-Jefferson Airplane and that they were a folk rock act. Wrong on both accounts - well sort of. When sampling the record for condition, I heard something completely different than expected, and put it in the listening stack. Last night came that full listen. Recorded in 1966, these live shows are more akin to The Butterfield Blues Band than anything else. A variation of Indo-rock, and very psychedelic for its era. The facts that I had discombobulated were of course that Jefferson Airplane were indeed the folk rock band starting out. And - of course - Grace Slick then famously became their lead singer just as they were going psychedelic on Surrealistic Pillow. All of Side 1 is great as are the last two tracks of Side 2. Included in the premier selection would be the true originals of 'Somebody to Love' and 'White Rabbit'. The cover highlights what a dream babe Slick was back then. She didn't age well, however. Hard livin' woman.
The City - Now That Everything's Been Said. 1968 Ode (LP). Carole King could be looked at as a younger female contemporary of Burt Bacharach. She learned her trade at the Brill Building, and has a very high number of top hits credited to her name. Unlike Bacharach's optimistic melodies juxtaposed against Hal David's oftentimes sad lyrics - King comes across as a woman scorned. Because she is a woman scorned. As with Janis Joplin, King isn't my kind of girl. I had high hopes for this album, thinking the group effort and a recent relocation to sunny California would have changed her outlook and music. Nope. It just sounds like it should have been King's debut instead. Boring.
*Morning Glory - Two Suns Worth. 1968 Fontana promo (LP). If only RT had been a psych collector, we'd be sitting on a collective goldmine. Even when I do find anything that is psych related (1 in a 100), it's usually from a "name" band such as The Byrds or Stones or Beatles, or even the Velvet Underground. Morning Glory is the first psych obscurity I've found on LP from him (45s are a different story). They are a completely new name to me as well, and I have a pretty good knowledge of psychedelic. Coming from the Bay Area, and fronted by a strong female vocalist, this will earn the Jefferson Airplane comparison. And it's true to an extent. But Morning Glory is much more psychedelic, with electric guitars way out in front. The songwriting is good as well. The production is weird - it's truly stereo, in that sometimes only one speaker will be working. In any case, I really enjoyed this one.
The Animals - Animalization. 1966 MGM (LP). Here's the second one from RT's stacks. This is a year later than Animal Tracks, but is very similar in construct. In fact, this record didn't have any recognizable songs, or at least less recognizable. I didn't go for this title either. We'll see if he has anything later.
The Animals - Animals Tracks. 1965 MGM (LP). This is their 3rd album. And it's the US release which is completely different than the UK release of the same name. I recognize two tracks from this: 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place' and 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood'. Those aren't my favorite Animals songs to begin with, but they are by far the best songs here. The rest is boring British blues. So this one isn't for me, but I know there are some that will be.
*The Rolling Stones - Out of Our Heads. 197? London (LP). This is clearly their transition album from Chicago blues to psychedelic and hard rock. Here's where you'll find 'Satisfaction', as well as 'The Last Time'. The Jagger/Richard originals are much better than the covers. It seems they weren't quite ready to take off the training wheels just yet. Keeping this one. (Apr)
The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man. 1965 CBS (UK) (LP).This is the first - of probably many more - of a background project I have going with RT's collection. It was messy enough, but he also had tons of loose albums stored all over the place. And empty covers. So I built out a spreadsheet to combine as I find them. I have a long way to go, with trash bags filled with vinyl, and covers stacked elsewhere. I asked him how it happened. "I couldn't be bothered to find the cover, so I didn't". We're not all wired the same, that's for sure. Fortunately most of the vinyl is in fine shape (Colorado is a cool dry place, if it was Texas they'd be ruined), but just need a cleaning. Anyway, that leads us to The Byrds debut, a very fine British original at that (cover and vinyl both in excellent shape). Most of the songs sound pretty much the same here, and you all know at least a couple of these. It becomes apparent that The Byrds were like a combo of same era Beatles with the early 60s Greenwich Village folk scene. This album, more than any other by The Byrds, explains why RT was a fan. Definitely not of interest for me, but glad to have heard it all the way through. (Mar)
The Road. 1969 Kama Sutra (LP). The Road were a psychedelic band based in Buffalo, New York. Out of the 12 tracks, only three are originals, which is usually a turn off for me. Not sure if the band lacked confidence to go forth with their own material or the label was just looking for a compilation of hits. In either case, once I heard the Zombies' opener 'She's Not There', I knew the band's arrangements were going to be unique enough to warrant a full listen. Organ and electric guitar are out front, and there's some horns as well. An enjoyable listen throughout. I would have rated it higher had the band performed more originals. (Feb)
* - Keeping for the collection
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