The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers. 1968 USA-California

For those of us predisposed to psych and prog, The Notorious Byrd Brothers is generally considered the best of the Byrds albums. It lays off the country and folk, and focuses more on their pop and rock tendencies. Not sure I disagree. It certainly is their most consistent album from my vantage point. However Fifth Dimension (1966) has 'Eight Miles High', certainly one of the most important songs in psychedelia. So it's a tossup. Either way, those 2 represent my Byrds collection.

Ownership: LP: 1978 Columbia. Single sleeve. Pulled this out of a record store in Pueblo back in January for $5 (2023). Mintish 2 eye original as well (better than these Discogs' stock photos). Most of these are beat to hell, so a real bargain.

3/9/23 (LP 4.12); 4/13/23 (new entry)

2021 Psychedelic / Garage Journal Vol. 2 - Complete

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 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

2021 Psychedelic / Garage Journal Vol. 1 - Complete

The next are 45s from the RT collection (Jan-Feb)

*The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn! / Eight Miles High. 19?? Columbia (SP). Another comp of two hits. 'Eight Miles High' (1966) might be my favorite of the trippy 60s singles, at least by a mainstream artist. No question this track influenced a host of European psychedelic progressive artists including Group 1850, probably even Pink Floyd honestly. The a) side (1965) is another insufferable hippie hymn, though not quite as bad as The Buffalo Springfield's contribution. (Feb)

*The Animals - The House of The Rising Sun / I'm Crying. 1968 MGM (SP). Another one of those "pairing of hits" 45s (Golden Circle, MGM calls it). Both of these are from 1964 and could be considered game changers. I didn't recognize 'I'm Crying', but it's got their patented sound. They were way ahead of their time. (Feb)

*The Buffalo Springfield - Rock 'n' Roll Woman / For What It's Worth. 19?? Atlantic (SP). This is one of those "Oldie Series" 45s that combined two hits into one. You ever hear a track for like 100 years, that you kind of liked, but never knew who it was? That's what happened to me with 'Rock n Roll Woman'. I probably would have said it was by CSNY. Well I got the S part right lol. OK, you know this song too. I like it. On the other hand 'For What It's Worth' is one of the most insufferable 60s hippie hymns of all time. This is their "I was there" track. Look at us - we're so great. Cue the girl with the flower in her hair. Puke. Keeping it anyway, because of the first track. Maybe I'll use the B side to drive guests away when they've worn out their welcome. (Feb)

Manfred Mann - If You Gotta Go, Go Now / The One in the Middle. 1965 Ascot (SP). I know painfully little about Mann really. I know his more proggy stuff from the 70s, but this guy has dozens of releases from the 60s that have completely eluded me. This is pretty good garage/mod/beat music. Getting a bit too basic for me to hold onto though. (Feb)

The Beatles - I Feel Fine / She's a Woman. 1964 Capitol (SP). Both of these tracks can be found on the Beatles '65 album. Beatles at their garage-y best. (Feb)

*Donovan - Sunshine Superman / The Trip. 1966 Epic (SP). Donovan is one of the more recognized folk artists dabbling in psychedelia. For late 1965, 'Sunshine Superman' is definitely ahead of its time. 'The Trip' unfortunately doesn't live up to its name, and is rather ordinary folk rock with some jangly electric guitar. 

Bob Landers with Willie Joe and his Unitar ‎- Cherokee Dance / Unitar Rock. 1956 Specialty (SP). The Unitar is an early example of fuzz it would appear (in 1956!). 'Cherokee Dance' is a bit silly with the vocals, but the guitar is cool. The flip is an instrumental and pretty cool for the era. 

The Sparkles - Jack and the Beanstalk / Oh, Girls, Girls. 1966 Hickory promo (SP). Looks like these guys are from Levelland, Texas. Those are my old stompin' grounds when attending college in Lubbock. This would be one of the last places you'd think to find a garage band within its population. But then again, there was Buddy Holly... In any case, we have yet another example of a rockin' nursery rhyme. The other side is straight up garage. Of interest to genre fans.

The Tradewinds - Catch Me in the Meadow / I Believe in Her. 1966 Kama Sutra promo (SP). The Tradewinds were a chart topping band from Providence, Rhode Island who put out quite a few singles (but only one album). The a) side is sunshine pop whereas b) has a definite Beach Boys harmony surf sound. Good on the whole. 

---end RT 45

The Standells - The Shake / Peppermint Beatle. 1964 Liberty. This one comes from a picker in eastern Colorado, and I bought this from one of his summer sales (2020/Jan). The Standells were from Los Angeles and have a solid reputation among garage collectors. This one's pretty early in their career and is more geared toward the early rock n roll dancefloor. Sock hop music. Not really for me.

Everyman - It's a Pushbutton World / Eternal Youth. 1967 Main Line. This obscurity I picked up at a real record store in Rapid City, South Dakota a few months ago (2020/Jan). From Cleveland, Everyman is ostensibly a protest folk album. But it has psychedelic lyrics and the a) side features some interesting musique concrete. 

The Gants -  Road Runner / My Baby Don't Care. 1965 Liberty promo. This SP goes back to a very large 45 estate sale collection in Castle Rock in the summer of 2019 (Jan). It was from a former radio DJ in the Denver area. I bought a pile. I kept a few, sold many others, and still have some in my record show bin. This is from the latter, where it's going back. The a) side is an RnB dancer whereas the b) side is - no surprise - heavily influenced by same era Beatles. The Gants were from Mississippi.

* - Keeping for the collection

The Byrds - Fifth Dimension. 1966 USA-California

Fifth Dimension is the source of the 'Eight Miles High' song that I referred to in a SP Commodity listing earlier in the year. I didn't realize 'I See You' was on the same album, another great track I recently spoke of when covering off on Yes' debut. These two tracks alone assured its place in the collection. But there's plenty more to savor here. This is the album where The Byrds went psychedelic and yet was still a full year ahead of the competition, at least in the States. The folk rock hadn't left their soul just yet, and there's a few ho-hummers here. Overall still very good.

Ownership: LP: 1966 Columbia. Single sleeve. I was hoping RT would have this one and it's a 2 eye Columbia mono original too, though not better than VG overall. 

2/21/21 (first listen / review / new entry)