It’s getting near to the end of the month so it must be time for another one of my compilations looking at the Psychedelic Years. It is also the last one in the series and this one focuses on the latter period of this genre. The majority of these songs come from 1969 with the odd song coming from either side of that year. What this compilation does is show the progression psych musicians made towards the Prog Rock era.
Between their first recording session in October 1966, and August 1968, the Jimi Hendrix Experience packed a lot in. Numerous tours, non album singles, three LPs (including one double), tv and radio appearances. These guys were really busy. This schedule, coupled with Hendrix’s increased perfectionism in the studio caused tension. Chas Chandler, the man who had brought Hendrix to the UK and produced the Experiences first two albums walked out of the session for ‘Electric Ladyland’, the bands third LP because of it. Hendrix would also invite friends and hangers on to the studio which also contributed to Chandler leaving. He had had enough of these people clogging up the control room. Bass player Noel Redding had also formed the band Fat Mattress, which meant he could not spend as much time in the studio with Hendrix. This would lead Hendrix to play a number of the bass parts during these sessions himself.
With all of this going on, it is a surprise that anything would be released, let alone an album that would be eventually be hailed as a classic. Using studio techniques such as echo, back masking and flanging, the album took the template of the bands previous albums and expanded them beyond the psychedelic blues of their earlier efforts. There were blues jams, a sci-fi influenced side long studio production, hard rock, social commentary as well as a couple of notable cover version, including ‘All Along The Watchtower’, one of the few occasions where the cover is significantly better than the original.
Today, it stands as Hendrixs’ defining LP and it was the last studio album he released in his lifetime. However, when it first came out, not all of the reviews were positive. Medley Maker called it “mixed up and muddled”. Rolling Stone commented that the original songs sometimes sound unstructured. That isn’t to say that there were some positives but the double LP’s was still a new concept in 1968, and even today, there aren’t that many artists who put one out. Most suffer from the same criticism in that there is too much padding and substandard songs. With this in mind and to celebrate 55 years since the album was released, I thought I would have a look at turning ‘Electric Ladyland’ into a single LP.
Side A
And The Gods Made Love
Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
Crosstown Traffic
Come On (Part 1)
Long Hot Summer
Still Raining, Still Dreaming
Side B
Gypsy Eyes
House Burning Down
All Along The Watchtower
Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)
Playing this through, this is a tight album that dispenses with the jams (Voodoo Chile) and the science fiction ramblings of “1983…(a Merman I Should Turn To Be)”. Removing both of these save up to around 30 minutes of playing time. That does still mean that a couple of other songs need to go so that the playing time would fit comfortably onto a vinyl record. ‘Little Miss Strange’ is very lightweight 60s pop and does stand out on the album as being one of, if not the weakest track. A B-Side at best. Last to go is ‘Burning Of The Midnight Lamp’. Nothing wrong with this song but it does sound a little out of place as it was already a year old by the point the LP came out, and it had already been released as a single in 1967. It sounds a little different from the rest of the album because it was produced by Chas Chandler. The rest of ‘Electric Ladyland’ was produce (and directed) by Jimi Hendrix. This was also the era were singles tended not to be included on albums so that is why this one has been dropped.
All in all, a pretty good single album. The front cover was used for the 50th Anniversary Box Set but this is what Hendrix wanted before his record company ignored his wishes.
For the second in my look at the career of The Beach Boys, I am posting this on the 60th Anniversary of the release of ‘Little Deuce Coupe’. This album came out on 7th October, 1963 and was the third album the group released in that year which meant that this was a very busy time for The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson especially.
First up was ‘Surfing USA’, released in March of 1963 and then in September, out came ‘Surfer Girl’. That meant there was only a months gap between that and ‘Little Deuce Coupe’. Considering an artist in the current climate does well to release a new album every two years, this is quite a turn over in product. This last album was clearly an LP too far because if we look at the track listing for ‘Little Deuce Coupe’, you can see that there was plenty of original material on it, but four of the twelve tracks had appeared on earlier albums. If you consider that their first album came out just over a year earlier on 1st October 1962, Brian Wilson was also writing and producing material for artists outside of The Beach Boys. It is not a surprise that he decided that he wanted to stop going out on the road and concentrate on working in the studio. He was not going to get his wish straight away because even though Al Jardine came back into the band to cover for his, David Marks was not far off leaving.
So what do we get in this period of The Beach Boys. There are a few covers, which is not a surprise considering how many records the band was releasing as well as Brian Wilson’s side projects. There are a number of instrumentals and when it comes to the ‘Little Deuce Coupe’ LP and recycling of some old material. As a side note, it could be argued that ‘Little Deuce Coupe’ is an early concept album as the majority of the songs on it are about cars. There is also a major step up in the quality of songs that Wilson was writing and the instrumentation he was using. Take ‘In My Room’ a song from the ‘Surfer Girl’ album. It has some harp playing on it, and an early appearance by studio player extraordinaire Hal Blaine on percussion. The song is not about surfing, cars or girls and has melancholy theme. A massive hint on where Wilson would go in a few years time culminating in the masterpiece that is ‘Pet Sounds’. This is also one of the few Beach Boys recordings where David Marks and Al Jardine both perform before the 2012 LP, ‘That’s Why God Made The Radio’.
Sources for the songs included on this set.
1 – Surfin’ U.S.A.
2 – Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace Of A Musical Legacy
3 – Unsurpassed Masters Vol.2 (Bootleg)
4 – Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys (Box Set)
5 – Made In California (Box Set)
6 – Unsurpassed Masters Vol.3 (Bootleg)
7 – Surfer Girl
8 – Stack O’Tracks
9 – In The Beginning (Bootleg)
10 – The Big Beat 1963
11 – Endless Harmony Soundtrack
12 – Surfer Girl (1990 Reissue)
13 – Rarities Vol.1 1962-1968 (Bootleg)
14 – Little Deuce Coupe
15 – Unsurpassed Master Vol.4 (Bootleg)
16 – Shut Down Vol.2
17 – Christmas Sessions (Bootleg)
18 – The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album
19 – The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album (1991 Reissue)
20 – Alternative Dumb Angel Vol.1 (Bootleg)
21 – Legends Of Christmas Past
22 – Christmas Sessions Vol.1
23 – Sounds Of Summer: The Best Of The Beach Boys (Expanded Super Deluxe)
Disc 4 which are the songs exclusively on ‘Shut Down Volume 2’ is a little sparse when it come to outtakes. It would seem that the bootleggers were not able to get their hands on those session tapes or possibly they have gone missing.
Ballad Of Old Betsy (Demo) – 10
Ballad Of Old Betsy (Instrumental Takes 1, 2 & 3) – 3
Ballad Of Old Betsy (Instrumental Take 4) – 3
Ballad Of Old Betsy (Mono) – 14
Ballad Of Old Betsy (Stereo) – 14
Be True To Your School (Mono) – 14
Be True To Your School (Stereo) – 14
Be True To Your School (Mono Single Version) – 5
Car Crazy Cutie (Mono) – 14
Car Crazy Cutie (Stereo) – 14
Cherry, Cherry Coupe (Mono) – 14
Cherry, Cherry Coupe (Stereo) – 14
Spirit Of America (Mono) – 14
Spirit Of America (Stereo) – 14
No-Go Showboat (Mono) – 14
No-Go Showboat (Stereo) – 14
A Young Man Is Gone (Mono) – 14
A Young Man Is Gone (Stereo) – 14
Custom Machine (Mono) – 14
Custom Machine (Stereo) – 14
I Do (Demo) – 10
I Do (Instrumental Take 1) – 15
I Do (Instrumental Takes 2 & 3) – 15
I Do (Instrumental Takes 4 & 5) – 15
I Do (Instrumental Take 6) – 15
I Do (Instrumental Take 7) – 15
I Do (Vocal Overdub Takes 1 & 2) – 15
I Do (Vocal Overdub Take 3) – 15
I Do (Vocal Overdub Take 4) – 15
I Do (Vocal Overdub Take 5) – 15
I Do (Unknown Take 1) – 15
I Do (Master) – 16
Back Home (Take 1) – 13
Back Home (Take 4) – 13
Back Home – 5
Disc 5
Disc 5 is made up mostly of the two sides of the Christmas single that band put out that year as well as tracks that I did not have room for anywhere else. “Little Saint Nick’ in its single configuration is the same recording as would appear on the 1964 album ‘The Beach Boys Christmas Album’ but the later version is stripped down of some of the production due to the fact that the album had been recording quickly and the original mix would have sounded out of place on that LP.
Punchline (Instrumental) – 4
Gonna Hustle You (Demo) – 10
Little Surfer Girl – 4
Chopsticks Boogie – 13
Things We Did Last Summer – 4
Let’s Go Trippin’ (Take 8) – 3
Let’s Go Trippin’ (Mono) – 1
Let’s Go Trippin’ (Stereo) – 1
Side Two (Instrumental Take 1) – 3
Side Two (Instrumental Take Unknown) – 3
Side Two (Instrumental) – 10
The Baker Man (Instrumental Takes 1 & 2) – 3
The Baker Man (Vocal Take) – 3
The Baker Man – 24
Little Saint Nick (Takes 2, 3, 4 & 5) – 9
Little Saint Nick (Take 6) – 9
Little Saint Nick (Vocal Take Stereo Mix) – 17
Little Saint Nick (Alt. Mix – More Sleigh Bells) – 17
Little Saint Nick (Vocals & Music Rechanneled) – 22
Thirty years ago, someone in some department at record label PolyGram TV decided that what the world needed (or the UK at least) was a CD compilation of prog rock songs. Prog rock (or progressive rock to give it its full title) was born out of the late 60s psych scene. It was characterised by lyrics that were designed to tell stories (or concepts), taking inspiration from fantasy along with extended soloing (designed to show off the musical prowess of the player involved), outlandish costumes and ever more elaborate stage sets. The album covers were works of art in themselves and the LPs become ever more overblown with double and even triple albums being released. It all came crashing down by 1976 but prog never really went away with bands such as Marillion and arguably Radiohead taking the genre on after its heyday. What is forgotten is that even though prog was (in)famous for its LPs, many bands in the genre actually released singles.
Back to the aforementioned compilation. What the compiler of that CD had looked to do was produce a compilation of singles by a number of these prog bands. What I didn’t realise until years later is that some of these singles were the bands biggest hits, others were not. What I have done here in an update of this CD is to only include the biggest UK hit from each band during the heyday of the prog rock era. That is the years 1971-1976 but you will notice that some of these singles pre and post date this. To qualify, the single had to be released after the starting point of prog, which (as far as I am concerned) was the release of ‘In The Court of the Crimson King’ by King Crimson which came out on 10th October 1969. The band in question also needed to have a genuine top 40 hit in the UK. There were more prog bands than I have included here who released singles but none of them was actually a hit, so they don’t count.
One last point. Like other genres, the scope of what is prog is quite wide. Some of the artists on the list might not be considered progressive now (or that progressive then), but many were on the progressive labels set up by the record companies in the late 60s to be the home of bands not considered pop. Some prog rock was not that far removed from rock, jazz or the blues so the boundaries can be a little blurred. Prog folk and other versions of prog were considered. Essentially, anything where the artists is progressing from what went before was fair game e.g. Kraftwerk.
Witches Promise – Jethro Tull (No.4 – Jan 1970 (1))
Sympathy – Rare Bird (No.27 – Feb 1970)
Who Do You Love? – Juicy Lucy (No.14 – Mar 1970)
Question – The Moody Blues (No.2 – May 1970 (2))
Love Like A Man – Ten Years After (No.10 – Jun 1970)
Paranoid – Black Sabbath (No.4 – Aug 1970)
Black Night – Deep Purple (No.2 – Aug 1970)
The Witch – The Rattles (No.8 – Oct 1970)
I Hear You Knocking – Dave Edmunds (No.1 – Nov 1970)
Apache Drop Out – Edgar Broughton Band (No.33 – Mar 1971 (3))
Standing In The Road – Blackfoot Sue (No.4 – Aug 1972)
Whiskey In The Jar – Thin Lizzie (No.6 – Jan 1973)
Fanfare For The Common Man – Emerson, Lake & Palmer (No.2 – Jun 1977)
Virginia Plain – Roxy Music (No.4 – Aug 1972 (6))
Sylvia – Focus (No.4 – Jan 1973)
All Because Of You – Geordie (No.6 – Mar 1973)
One & One Is One – Medicine Head (No.3 – May 1973)
Radar Love – Golden Earring (No.7 – Dec 1973)
I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) – Genesis (No.21 – Apr 1974 (7))
Seven Seas Of Rhye – Queen (No.10 – Mar 1974 (9))
Down Down – Status Quo (No.1 – Dec 1974)
Autobahn – Kraftwerk (No.11 – May 1975 (9))
Delilah (Live) – The Sensational Alex Harvey Band (No.7 – Jul 1975)
Pandora’s Box – Procol Harum (No.16 – Aug 1975 (10))
Portsmouth – Mike Oldfield (No.3 – Apr 1976)
Blinded By The Light – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (No.6 – Aug 1976 (11))
Wonderous Stories – Yes (No.7 – Sep 1977)
Northern Lights – Renaissance (No.10 – Jul 1978)
This isn’t Jehtro Tull’s biggest hit. That was ‘Living In The Past’ that came out in May 1969 and is just before the self imposed cut off point for this compilation.
The Moody Blues did have a number 1 hit in December 1964 with the distantly not prog, ‘Go Now’.
This entered the charts three times but its highest placing came on the third and last time.
John Kongos had another hit with ‘He’s Gonna Step on You Again’ which also reached number 4 in May 1971.
Not their biggest hit but it was the only one ELO had when Roy Wood was in the band which is arguably their progressive period.
Like ELO, this was not Roxy Music’s biggest hit but I would argue that they stopped being progressive once Brian Eno left the band.
Once again, this was not the bands biggest hit but the only one when they were at the most progressive. This was before Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett left.
Queen had a number one with the very pro ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. However, I chose this song as it was the only hit single from the bands first two albums, when they were at their most progressive.
Kraftwerk’s only hit during the 1970s which is arguably their most progressive period, before other bands and technology caught up to what they were doing later in the decade.
Procol Harum had two bigger hits than this, but they came up before the progressive era.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band had another number 6 hit with ‘Davy’s On The Road Again’. I went with ‘Blinded By The Light’ as it is a lot more prog, especially the full length LP version.
Disc 1
Jig-A-Jig – East of Eden
Living In The Past – Jethro Tull
Who Do You Love? – Juicy Lucy
Love Like A Man – Ten Years After
The Witch – The Rattles
Paranoid – Black Sabbath
Black Night – Deep Purple
Apache Drop Out – Edgar Broughton Band
Question – The Moody Blues
Sympathy – Rare Bird
Devil’s Answer – Atomic Rooster
Backstreet Luv – Curved Air
I Hear You Knocking – Dave Edmunds
In My Own Time – Family
Tokoloshe Man – John Kongos
Silver Machine – Hawkwind
Hold Your Head Up – Argent
Standing In The Road – Blackfoot Sue
Side 2
Whiskey In The Jar – Thin Lizzie
10538 Overture – Electric Light Orchestra
Fanfare For The Common Man – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Lady Eleanor – Lindisfarne
Virginia Plain – Roxy Music
Sylvia – Focus
I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) – Genesis
All Because Of You – Geordie
Radar Love – Golden Earring
One & One Is One – Medicine Head
Autobahn – Kraftwerk
Seven Seas Of Rhye – Queen
Down Down – Status Quo
Pandora’s Box – Procul Harum
Delilah (Live) – The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Portsmouth – Mike Oldfield
Blinded By The Light – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
Wonderous Stories – Yes
Northern Lights – Renaissance
I wanted to use the original artwork of the compilation used back in 1993, but I could not find one of sufficient quality on line so I made my own, adapting a compilation that had been produced by Classic Rock magazine.
One or more of these version were not available on Spotify.
It’s the ninth month so it means that it must be time for another Psych compilation. As per usual, there are a number of famous artists including Fairport Convention (who were the British answer to The Jefferson Airplane at this point and not the folk rock band they would become) The Hollies, The Yardbirds and The Spencer Davis Group (even though by the time these tracks were recorded, Steve Winwood had left The Spencer Davis Group and they were not as successful after his departure). There are some artists who would become more famous later on including Graham Gouldman (he’d already written hits such as Bus Stop and For Your Love but he would find success as an artist in this own right as a member of 10cc) and Robert Palmer (then with The Alan Bown! but would find greater success with Vinegar Joe and as a solo artist). There is also a considerable number of artists who have only found success on compilations released many years after the event.
Toyland (Single Version) – The Spencer Davis Group
Mr. Sun – Tony Rivers & The Casterways
Difference Of Opinion – The Monatanas
Magic In The Air – The Attack
Dawn Breaks Down – The Barrier
Soft Winds – Orange Bicycle
Birthday – Peter & The Wolves
Girl Of Independent Means – Honeybus
Skizoid Revolution – Skip Bifferty
I Get So Excited – Real McCoy
A Day In My Mind’s Mind – Human Instinct
Dear Eloise (Mono Single Version) – The Hollies
Upstairs Downstairs – Graham Gouldman
Come On Down To My Boat – Motivation
Keep It Out Of Sight – Paul & Barry Ryan
Pantomime – Tony Rivers & The Catserways
The World Goes On Around You – The Mirage
Mrs Gillespie’s Refrigerator – Sands
Mr Second Class – The Spencer David Group
Rosemary’s Bluebell Day – The Piccadilly Line
Venetian Glass – Infinity
Lavender Popcorn – Scrugg
Gone Is The Sad Man – The Timebox
Just Another Day – Neon Pearl
Soldier – Lace
Moon Beams – The Magical Mixture
Music Soothes The Savage Beast – The Spectrum
Disc 2
Farewell (Mono) – The Yardbirds
Let’s Take A Trip Down The Rhine – Apple
Hide If You Want To Hide – The Cedars
You’ve Got To Hold On – The Deviants
In Your Tower – The Poets
Find The Hidden Door – The Misunderstood
Deflected Grey (Extended Version) – The Pretty Things
Little Girl Lost & Found – Peter & The Wolves
Hyacinth Threads – Orange Bicycle
Mr. Pinnodmy’s Dilemma – The Attack
Bluebell Wood – Wimple Witch
I Will Not Be Moved – Circle Plantagenet
Penny For Your Thoughts – The Alan Bown!
Snow White – Winston’s Fumbs
Eiderdown Clown – The Scots Of St. James
It’s All Over Now – Martin Cure & The Peeps
Odd Man Out – The Hi-Fi’s
Crossroads Of Time – Eyes Of Blues
Old Songs For New Songs (Variation On A Theme Of The Breeze) – Family
The Lobster – Fairport Convention
I Am Nearly There – Second Hand (With Dennis Couldry)
Look At Me – The Nocturnes
Armageddon – The Cape Kennedy Construction Company
Bradshaw’s was one of the earliest modern guide books and the earliest editions dealt with railway timetables but by the early 1860’s, information about what was in the area had started to appear. So, armed with my 1861 reproduction of the guide, we are going to be following the Hounslow Loop line to see what was mentioned in Bradshaw’s at each stop and how much of it, if anything remains.
The Faces are not as well as they really should be. The the original line up consisted of Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones who had all been in the Small Faces together. They were joined by Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood who had been together in the Jeff Beck Group. The band had a curious arrangement with Stewart as the singer had a solo deal in place and had released his first LP before The Faces had theirs. Titled ‘An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down’, it featured both Wood and McLagan as part of the backing musicians.
Stewart tried to keep the band material and his solo work separate, but in reality he did not do a very good job. Was this down to him trying to promote himself to the detriment of the band or was it down to his management. The best example of this is the track ‘(I Know) I’m Losing You’ from Stewart’s ‘Every Picture Tells A Story LP’. This song was recorded by The Faces and meant to be included on one of their albums. It ended up being on on of Stewart’s instead. The public perception of the band as Stewarts backing band also lead to some resentment from some members. This was not helped by the fact that when Stewart was booked to play his solo hit ‘Maggie May’ on the BBC’s legendary music show, Top of the Pops, The Faces were backing him up.
The band managed to keep it together for three years, where their tours made them one of the top grossing acts of the time. When it came to recording ‘Ooh La La’, their fourth album, Stewart was showing signs of not being interested anymore. His solo career was really taking off by this stage and he missed the first two weeks of the recording sessions. There is also a notable absence of his lead vocals on the record. Ronnie Lane and Ronnie Wood take on this role on a number of songs including the title track.
Stewart did not help the already tense atmosphere between members by being very critical of the album in the music press. This annoyed Ronnie Lane so much he decided to leave the band. His place was taken by Tetsu Yamauchi who had replaced Andy Fraser in Free. They continued to tour but the set list was beginning to feature more Stewart solo songs. The band were also being billed as Rod Stewart and The Faces. ‘Pool Hall Richard’, a non album single was released as well as a live album called ‘Coast to Coast: Overture & Beginners’.
With these two releases, the band took a break from touring with Wood and Stewart both recording solo albums. These works would include Faces Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones as it was possible that the songs they were on were originally slated for the bands next album. As it was, none of them were but they did meet up again to record the ‘You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything’ single before trying to make another album. The sessions did yield some songs but with Lane gone, the songwriting duties feel mostly to Wood and Stewart who, as was mentioned before, kept the majority of their songs for their solo releases. The band officially broke up in November in 1975 but what if the record company had had a look in the archive and decided to release a fifth Faces album. What did they have to work with.
Well, the album would start off with the single ‘You Can Make Me Dance’. We then have an outtake from the ‘First Step’ sessions with ‘Behind The Sun’. This is followed by a number of outtakes from either the ‘Ooh La La’; sessions as well as those tracks recorded for the proposed fifth LP. We finish with an outtake from the ‘Long Player’ sessions. I decided against including ‘As Long As You Tell Him’ on the album. This song was the B-Side to ‘You Can Make Me Dance’ and even though A-Sides had started popping on to LPs by the mid 70s, B-Sides still tended to stay on the single.
SIde A
You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (Even Take The Dog For A Walk, Mend A Fuse, Fold Away The Ironing Board, Or Any Other Domestic Short Comings) – Single A-Side
Behind The Sun – First Step Outtake
Getting Hungry – 5th Album Sessions
(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right – Ooh La La Outtake
Side B
Hi Heel Sneakers/Everybody Needs Somebody To Love – 5th Album Sessions
Come See Me Baby (The Cheater) – Ooh La La Outtake
Rock Me – 5th Album Sessions
Open To Ideas – 5th Album Sessions
Whole Lotta Woman – Long Player Outtake
It’s not a great album by any means, but none of The Faces LPs were. It does hold up surprisingly well though but I did have to do a bit of editing to take out some of the studio chatter at the start and end of some of the songs. The only one I was not able to do this for was on the rather curious cover of The Beach Boys ‘Gettin’ Hungry’ song. Stewart gives some studio direction half way through the song. I am sure that if this had been prepared for released, this would have been edited out.
The cover is adapted from the compilation album ‘You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (Even Take The Dog For A Walk, Mend A Fuse, Fold Away The Ironing Board, Or Any Other Domestic Short Comings)’ which came out in 2015.
In this age of deluxe editions on every conceivable anniversary, here is one that continues to be missed. On the 5th September, 1973, an album slipped out by a Los Angeles based duo called Buckingham Nicks. These were guitar player/singer Lindsey Buckingham and vocalist Stevie Nicks. The sessions players were not too shabby, with Waddy Wachel (sessions up to this point include the Everly Brothers, Bill Cowsill and Dory Pravin), Jeff Scheff (sessions up to this point include The Association, The Doors and Elvis Presleys’ TCB Band) and Jim Keltner (more sessions that most people have had hot dinners). The band were able to acquire a small but dedicated following in Birmingham, Alabama, but the record failed to make any waves anywhere else and the duo were were forced to find work outside of the music industry to pay the rent.
That may well have been the end of the story until a year later when a certain Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac was checking out the Sound City studios for his bands next album. Ken Olsen, who had produced the ‘Buckingham Nicks’ decided to use the song ‘Frozen Love’ as a way of demonstrating the studios capabilities. Fleetwood was not only impressed by the sound of the album, he was mightily impressed but the guitar player on the tracks. Fleetwood Mac were in the market for a new guitar player and Fleetwood felt he had found his man. Buckingham was keen to join, but only on the condition that his musical partner Nicks (and then girlfriend) join as well. A bit of a bold move considering Fleetwood Mac were an established name and the ‘Buckingham Nicks’ had sunk without trace. Not wanting to lose this player, Fleetwood said that this could happen as long as the rest of the band agreed to it. The group met with Nicks, who turned up to the meeting in her waitress uniform having come straight from work. The parties got along and Buckingham Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac. Within two years, they had released ‘Rumours’ and the rest is history.
So who did two members of one of the biggest selling groups in the world have such an obscure record in their back catalogue? There doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer to this. Some of the songs from this album were re-recorded by Fleetwood Mac. ‘Crystal’ appeared 1975’s ‘Fleetwood Mac’, and ‘Don’t Let Me Down Again’ featured on 1980’s ‘Live’ LP. ‘Frozen Love’ was also performed on the tour but did not make the LP. ‘Long Distance Winner’ appeared on Stevie Nicks’ ‘Enchanted’ box set where as ‘Stephanie’ appeared on Buckingham’s ‘Word & Music (A Retrospective)’ promo CD. Both artists have also performed the odd song from this record in their solo shows since the turn of the century. Another song from the period (‘Without You’) was released on Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Extended Play’ EP in 2013.
But what about the album itself. There was talk in 2006 of a Buckingham Nicks tour to support a potential re-release of the album. Neither of these happened. Lindsey Buckingham has said that ‘it was a victim of inertia’. There was talk of a 40th anniversary edition being released back in 2013, but in the end, nothing happened. The record has been bootlegged a number of times, with one even claiming to have been taken form the original master tapes. There is a version that contains demos and studio cuts otherwise unavailable. Some live material from 1975 has also become available down the years but still, a re-release is nowhere to be seen. It might be that we never seen a re-release of the record. Buckingham and Nicks have had a less than harmonious relationship since their romantic partnership broke up during the making of the ‘Rumours’ LP. Even though there has been a thawing of relations down the years, but with Buckingham having been fired from Fleetwood Mac in 2018 (supposedly after an ultimatum from Nicks that either he goes or she goes), it would seem that relations are once again at a low.
I decided therefore to create my own Deluxe Edition of the album with what is available. Disc 1 is the ten track album with two additional tracks. These are single mixes of ‘Crying In The Night’ (which differs from the album version, especially in the intro where there is more electric guitar) and ‘Don’t Let Me Down Again’ (which is a mono mix). There were another couple of single releases from the record but I have not been able to find out if there any differences between them and the album mixes.
Disc 2 is a mix of demos and live tracks. It starts off with ‘See The World Go By’, which might be a solo Nick performance and seems to come from the time between Buckingham Nicks and Fritz, the band the duo were in from 1968-71. The next nine songs are from a bootleg called ‘The Coffee Plant Demos’. None of these songs appear on the ‘Buckingham Nicks’ LP (even though ‘Sorcerer’ was eventually recorded by Nicks in 2001) and were recorded on a tape machine in the coffee roasting plant Buckingham’s father owned. I almost didn’t include ‘After The Glitter Fades’ because it dates from around the time she joined Fleetwood Mac, but it did not appear on any of the bands records so it found a home here. Nicks would eventually record it for her 1981 LP ‘Bella Donna’. This disc finishes with a number of live recordings. The first six come from a recording made on 28th January 1975 whilst the duo were recording their first Fleetwood Mac album. As has been noted earlier, Buckingham Nicks had had a good following in Birmingham, Alabama and this is where they played their final and best attended shows. The next three are also live recordings but I have not been able to find out where they were recorded.
Disc 3 is their gig from the Morgan Auditorium, Tuscaloosa on 29th January 1975. The sound on these recordings is a little rough and there are some not too professional cuts, but as an archival release, this is is fascinating especially when you hear Nicks say she has never seen this many people. They also used these shows to preview some material that was about to appear on the forthcoming Fleetwood Mac album in ‘Monday Morning’ and ‘Rhiannon’. The ‘Guitar Instrumental’ track on this disc also has passages that sound as though they were later used by Buckingham in his song ‘Never Going Back’.
So there is my take on a ‘Buckingham Nicks’ Deluxe Edition. It isn’t perfect but it most probably the best that could be put together with the material available. Maybe we’ll see the album gets it long awaited deluxe edition treatment for its 60th Anniversary.
Disc 1
Crying In The Night
Stephanie
Without A Leg To Stand On
Crystal
Long Distance Winner
Don’t Let Me Down Again
Django
Races Are Run
Lola (My Love)
Frozen Love
Crying In The Night (Single Version)
Don’t Let Me Down Again (Mono Single Mix)
Disc 2
See The World Go By (Demo)
Without You (Demo)
Candle Bright – Nomad (Demo)
That’s Alright (Demo)
Garbo (Demo)
Sorcerer (Demo)
Goldfish & The Ladybug (Demo)
Going Home (Demo)
Yesterday I Saw The World (Demo)
After The Glitter Fades (Demo)
Farewell Failure (Live – Alabama State Fairgrounds, Birmingham, AL, 28/1/1975)
Sorcerer (Live – Alabama State Fairgrounds, Birmingham, AL, 28/1/1975)
You Won’t Forget Me (Live – Alabama State Fairgrounds, Birmingham, AL, 28/1/1975)
Blue Letter (Live – Alabama State Fairgrounds, Birmingham, AL, 28/1/1975)
Rhiannon (Live – Alabama State Fairgrounds, Birmingham, AL, 28/1/1975)
Guitar Instrumental (Live – Alabama State Fairgrounds, Birmingham, AL, 28/1/1975)
As this has been a year celebrating psychedelic music (and with a new album due this month), I thought it was time to turn my attention to Sun Dial. They are a a truly underground band and have spent the last 30 years steadily releasing new records as well as a significant amount of archival releases. They even had their own imprint on Cherry Red Records for a short period of time. Not bad for a band that have never really hit the mainstream but have maintained a dedicated fan base since their first release in 1990. That first release was ‘Other Way Out’, one of the few truly awesome psychedelic albums not produced in the 1960s. The band itself has had a revolving line up since it was first formed in the late 1980s out of the ashes of another band, The Modern Art. Modern Art released numerous records but never played live. Guitar player/singer, Gary Ramon decided to disband the Modern Art and form Sun Dial for the purpose of going out on the road. He has been the only ever present in the band, even though he has been joined by members of The Modern Art in the various incarnations of Sun Dial since.
Other Way Out (Alternative)
‘Other Way Out’ was their first release and came out in 1990 on their own Tangerine label. Some came with a lyric sheet including some that were signed by Ramon. I had never heard of the band because I was a little young in 1990 to be reading the independent music press, and would not have had a chance to see them play live in 1991. I only came cross them by accident having found their first album in The Record Shop in Kingston Upon Thames, an oasis for vinyl hunters in the early to mid 90s when most other record shops had stopped selling that format. One of the staff had written a note which was attached to the record saying that it was a cross between Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd and the Jefferson Airplane. I did not know much about Jefferson Airplane at the time, but Syd Barrett was a different matter. I bought the album and was not disappointed. I was blown away by how authentic it sounded and it was heavy rotation for a number of months, much to the annoyance of everyone else around me. This being 1994, listening to Psych music was not exactly the hip thing to do.
The album has seen a number of reissues down the years including a 25th Anniversary Edition in 2015 on Record Store Day. What has also trickled out down the years on very limited edition releases are outtakes from the sessions that produced this record. What I have done it is to take different versions of these songs to compile an alternative version of the record. It is not as good as the official release, but it is always nice to have an idea of what it could have sounded like.
Side A
Plains Of Nazca (First Take)
Exploding In Your mind (Anthology Edition)
Magic Flight (Early Mix)
Side B
World Without Time (Early Mix)
She’s Looking All Around (Take 2)
Lorne Blues (Take 1)
The cover is the same as the original, but the image had been turned into a negative.
Sun Dial – Other Way In (Alternative)
As was noted previously, Sun Dial have been rather good at their archive releases, especially from their early period. Their first album, ’Other Way Out’ has had numerous reissues but there have also been a number of records release that contain outtakes from those sessions. One of the first was a vinyl release called ‘Other Way In’ from 2005. There was also a deluxe edition of the album from 2010 as well as a mind bending 13 disc box set from the same year featuring a bewildering amount of outtakes, alternative versions, rehearsals and live songs.
What was surprising to me was the amount of material that was recorded during the first two years of their existence that never saw the light of day on any future album. Granted, some of these songs never progressed passed the demo stage but that did not mean they could not have been dusted down and rerecorded. What I present here is at least one version of the songs recorded for ‘Other Way Out’ that stayed in the vault at the time. I have also tried not to use material that would have been used for ‘Return Journey’, their abandoned second album.
Side A
Astral Vision (Third Eye Studios Take 3)
Carousel (CR Studios Demo 1)
I Can See What You Are
Samantha’s Scene (CR Studios Demo)
Side B
You’re So Real (Take 3)
Poster Painted Skies (Original Version)
Atom Heart Lover
Silver Dust
Side C
Other Side
Fountain
Through You
Phaser Song
Dark Into Light (Demo Version)
Side D
Cathedral (CR Studios Demo)
Visitation (Long Version)
Single Sided 7”
Visitation (Single Edit)
The cover is the same as the one used for the release of ‘Other Way In’ used back in 2005, but recoloured purple.
Sun Dial – Live At The Playground 1991
All of these songs appeared on the 2010 box set ‘Exploding In Your Mind’. Weirdly, the band released another 13 disc box set that year which contained nothing but live concerts in full. Why they felt they needed to release these separately is a bit bizarre but it did mean I could make a combined double LP version which could have been released in 1991, even though it does sound a bit ropey in places. An archival release for sure.
Side A
Mind Train*
Magic Potion (Live Version 2)**
Side B
Exploding In Your Mind**
It’s All Too Much*
Oh Yeah/Jean Genie Jam**
Side C
Plains of Nazca**
Other Side**
Never Fade (Take 2)*
Jam/Cold Turkey*
Side D
Fireball**
Slow Motion*
Only A Northern Song**
*April performance
**May performance
The cover is adapted from one used for a reissue of ‘Other Way Out’ with the band name and title changed so that the fonts match.
I have no idea where The Playground venue is or was. Any ideas internet?
With Volume 8 in this series, there are, as always, a number of well known artists (The Who, Spencer Davis Group, The Rolling Stones), people who went onto be more famous in other groups (The Remo Four included two members who would go on to be in Ashton, Gardner & Dyke) and those who only found belated fame on psych compilations released many years after the event. I used a few more Mono mixes in here including ‘King Midas In Reverse’ which for my money sounds so much better with that mix than in stereo. All that phrasing spoils the song for me.
Disc 1
Atmospheres – Wimple Witch
I’ll Be Late For Tea – Blossom Toes
All So Long Ago – The Sweet Feeling
Second Production – Mike Stuart Span
Never Care – Eyes Of Blue
Tread Softly For The Sleeper – The Hi-Fis
In The Deep End – The Artwoods
Sycamore Sid – Focal Point
Am I Glad To See You – The In Crowd
Something To Write About – Circus
I Can See For Miles (Mono) – The Who
Day & Night – The Drag Set
‘Cos It’s Over – The Summer Set
We Love You (Single Version) – The Rolling Stones
In the First Place (Original Abbey Road Mix) – The Remo Four
Nobody Know Where You’ve Been – The State Of Mickey & Tommy
Nightmare – The Gass Company
She – Tuesday’s Children
She Was Perfection – Murray Head
Sanity Inspector (Single Mix) – The Spencer Davis Group
Time & Motion Man – Episode Six
Cheadle Health Delusions – Felius Andromeda
Lullaby – Grapefruit
Busker Bull – The Truth
Magician – The Amazing Friendly Apple
Disc 2
Loneliest Person – The Pretty Things
Armenia City In The Sky (Mono) – The Who
In Another Land (Single Version) – The Rolling Stones
