Rock In My World

Old Man Going - The Pretty Things

Brit band, The Pretty Things, created one of rock's first concept albums, released in 1968, S.F. Sorrow. This album, based on a concept by the band's guitar playing vocalist, Phil May, tells the story of Sebastian F. Sorrow from his birth through his death, and it has been speculated that Pete Townshend borrowed this idea when he wrote Tommy. (And in case you're interested, there is a live recording of S.F. Sorrow, called Resurrection, featuring David Gilmour on guitar, you can read about it here.)

In Old Man Going, our friend Mr. Sorrow is, of course, near the end of his life:

Old man going.

Hopscotch of life will lead you to the grave.

Wet faces line the street, they will not be saved.

Black house youve built it will soon disappear,

Another corporation dig this year.

Old man going.

Traffic thins as you drive slowly by,

A friend wipes a flower from an eye.

Streets filled with bouquets from a cloudy sky

Theyll soon forget the field in which you lie.

Old man going.

Listen at left or here.

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What a cool band.

The votes are in, and there were quite a few songs with 2 votes or more. I was going to make this a Top 10, but I can't just randomly pick one of the 4 songs that received 2 votes each, so you're getting a Top 13 instead.

There were two songs with 9 votes apiece, 2 songs with 4 votes, 5 songs with 3 votes, and 4 songs garnering 2 votes each, so I'm going to step up and be the tie-breaker! (Next year, I'll figure out a way to give each vote some weight, so I can be more fair about counting down.)

I'll do 7 in this show, and 6 next time.

13. From The Underworld - The Herd - Frampton's pre-Humble Pie group.

12. Pushin' Too Hard - The Seeds - The fuzz guitar and the electric piano work shine in this one.

11. Incense and Peppermints - Strawberry Alarm Clock - A classic of the psychedelic era, but what does it mean?

10. Not Fade Away (live) - The Grateful Dead - The Dead turn a two minute Buddy Holly song into a 10 minute jam.

9. Hey Grandma - Moby Grape - Cool guitar and harmonies from The Dead For People Who Don't Like The Dead.

8. Open My Eyes - Nazz - Rundgren's early work shines in Nazz.

7. Sunrise (Turn On) - The Chesterfield Kings - A modern psychedelic garage band that sounds great, even if they don't bring anything new to the genre.

That's all for part one!

"The Brondesberry Tapes" album was pre-King Crimson Fripp, along with Peter and Michael Giles, released in 1968. This song eventually evolved into a piece, "The Letters", on King Crimson's album, "Islands", according to Bruce Eder of allmusic.com. (I can't vouch for that, having never heard Islands.) I love the little touch of Beach Boys harmony at the 1:15 point, even though it's not exactly psychedelic. What follows that, though, is a bit of fuzz guitar brilliance, which foretold the future of Fripp's career. Enjoy.

One from the classic "Velvet Underground & Nico" album from 1967, the fabulous, ethereal "Sunday Morning."

ANd don't forget to visit my blog at http://natsthename.blogspot.com to vote in the annual Psychedelic Sunday countdown poll!

Nantucket Sleighride - Mountain

This live cut from Mountain's 1972 live album, Live - The Road Goes On Forever, clocks in at 17:34, while the studio cut of this song is a mere 5:50. What does that spell? J-A-M. Normally, I don't get into extended jams. Once a song passes the 8 or 10-minute mark, my attention wanders and I get impatient. I never would have made it as a Deadhead or Phish Head.

What you'll hear is Leslie West's fabulous guitar work, and Steve Knight's skilled keyboard work. The late Felix Pappalardi's pounding bass stands right up with the rock greats, but this probably isn't the finest example that can be heard of his work. I will get in trouble with the hubby if I leave out the signature drum part from Corky Laing, so there, I said it.

I love the way the two guitarist play off each other at the 12-minute mark, but I still think this is one jam that lasted about 5 minutes too long.

The Herd earned a Top 10 spot in the Brit charts in 1967 with this song, but they were barely known in the US. Just nine years later, though, Herd's original lead singer would go on to chart-topping almost overnight success here here with Frampton Comes Alive.

The opening bells might lead you to believe you're about to rock out to AC/DC's Hell's Bells, but once the piano kicks in, it's obvious that this song is not quite that loud and in-your-face. There's some fuzz guitar, the pleasant voice of Frampton, some requisite Beatles-style trumpet, a little orchestral bombast, and a great funky percussion part.

So, enjoy Frampton before he came alive

I'm feeling the need for another Nazz song in the Psychedelic Sunday series, and it's been a year since I featured a song of theirs. This one's from their 1968 debut album, called The Nazz. This song didn't chart, but it's memorable because of the fuzz guitar, the opening riff that always fools me into thinking I'm going to hear The Who's Let It Rain, and the always great use of that phasing effect. Ga-roovy, baby.

Today, I've got 5 songs from an album never released on CD. These songs are mp3 files, gloriously ripped from the vinyl. This is the best I've heard of these rips, and there are lots of scratchy ones floating around. I do own this on vinyl, but my turntable isn't hooked up and my copy is full of pops and cracks, since it was well-loved.

Enjoy!

Crying In The Night

Crystal - which later appears on Fleetwood Mac's "Fleetwood Mac" album

Long Distance Winner

Lola (My Love)

Don't Let Me Down Again

I Can See Through You - Episode Six

I had never heard of this band until I stumbled upon some songs while searching for mid-late 60's psychedelic tunes in some torrent files. Episode Six was Roger Glover and Ian Gillian's pre-Deep Purple band (and Deep Purple was the first real, hard rocking band I was into besides, well, Led Zep.) They tried like hell to have a hit song, releasing nine singles in Britain without cracking the charts. Such disappoinment probably gave them the stick-to-it-ivness to keep pushing for some recognition. (Either that or they were just too stubborn to quit.)

Anyway, I Can See Through You is a Glover-penned piece of psych-pop, with some cool/weird orchestration at the 1:40 mark, which ebbs and flows sort of like film soundtrack music. I can hear some James Bond flavoring in there at one point, almost like McCartney's Live And Let Die. Groovy, man, groovy.

Back in April, The Bubble Puppy's song Keep Your Mouth Shut Once In Awhile made an appearance on Psychedelic Sunday, and I thought that would be that. After all, who'd heard of them?

I kept going back to that song, though, since I liked it, so I thought I'd look for more. After hearing their 1969 release, A Gathering Of Promises, in its entirety, I realized that I had, indeed, heard this band before! Hot Smoke And Sassafras is their one hit I remember! It's one of those songs that I hear and think to myself, "Oh, that's the name of that song!"

I think the guitars stands out in this song, and the band's guitar-playing duo, Rod Prince and Todd Potter, both do some flaming-hot work here. (You can just hear the Jimi influence, though, can't you, especially near the end of the song.)