Traffic strived for an authentic organic sound. They did very little over-dubbing throughout their career. They purposely kept away form the lavish over-dubs of the over-produced bands like Yes and Pink Floyd.

The band played around the Ohio - West Pennsylvania circuit and gained the reputation of being a great live act to catch; though Fox was still not happy with the guitar chair. So, the band went through a succession of guitars players. Then one day a player from a local band called the Measels knocked on his door saying he wanted to try out for the band. It was Joe Walsh.

The band had numerous name changes, at the beginning, Navy Blue, John Evan Band, Candy Colored Rain, Ian Anderson’s Bag O Nails. The name that stuck was given to them by a booking agent that was getting sick of the monthly name changes. He suggested the name of an 18th-century farmer that invented the seed drill. It stuck.

The band’s fans are split between the rock fans of the 70’s; the original band, and the ballad audience of the 80’s and 90’s.  When I was preparing for this segment of under the classic rock, I tuned into an old video of the band, and a younger associate saw the clip and asked who the band was. I said the original Chicago. They were floored! They had no idea of the hard rocking origins of the band. 

Some true and false about The Chicago Transit Authority:

True - The band had to reduce their royalties because of the multi-album format of the band's first four releases.

And false… they didn’t stop doing double albums because of running out of material. It was their record company, and it’s policy of only paying royalties on only ten songs on an album… the first four Chicago albums had between 12 and 31 songs.

The Band was completely managed and produced By Dave Clark. Early on in their recording careers, Clark had the foresight to own all the master tapes and all the songs rights, which was unheard of at the time. According to the likes of Paul McCartney and Elton John, it was pure genius. 

In 1966 after years of wallowing with little Aussie success, Barry, Robin and Maurice headed back to England. But ahead of them, they sent a demo tape to Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager, he liked it, gave the tape to Robert Satigwood, who was working for Epstein at the time. When the brothers docked back in England in January of 1967, they hooked up with Stigwood; he got them a five-year contract with Polydor records.

Now, there have been legendary rhythm sections associated with recording studios that have played on thousands of records for pop legends; the Funk Brothers with Motown, The Swampers with the Mussel Shoals studios, in Alabama, the west coast sound from the Wrecking Crew… MFSB out of Philadelphia and SalSoul out of New York… but Booker T and the MG’s had more chart presents and was much more of an established act then any of them.

This is the first Under The Classic Rock podcast on the Monkees. New shows return next week.

Coming in 2017 - Four Tops, James Gang, Bee Gees, Chicago, Tower of Power, Blood Sweat and Tears, and I kick off the new year with Booker T And The MG's.

Happy New Year and thanks for listening to the UCR.

Bill H

Lola is about a transvestite that, according to Ray Davis, was dancing with a Kinks road manager. Davies wrote the psalm as he was drinking at a bar watching their handler friend try to engage the transgender for more than just a dance.