Rock In My World

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.

Sing Me Spanish Techno - From the 2005 release, "Twin Cinema"

Mutiny, I Promise You - From "Challengers", a 2007 release

The Laws Have Changed - From "Electric Version", 2003

Mass Romantic - From their 2000 debut, "Mass Romantic"

Use It - From "Twin Cinema"

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.