Procol Harum

A Whiter Shade of Pale

(1967)

 

Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale (1967)

In memoriam of my brother

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1967 - Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing at Baxter's

1967 - Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing at Baxter's @320

The Jefferson Airplane opened 1967 with Surrealistic Pillow and closed it with After Bathing at Baxter's, and what a difference ten months made. Bookending the year that psychedelia emerged in full bloom as a freestanding musical form, After Bathing at Baxter's was among the purest of rock's psychedelic albums, offering few concessions to popular taste and none to the needs of AM radio, which made it nowhere remotely as successful as its predecessor, but it was also a lot more daring. The album also showed a band in a state of ferment, as singer/guitarist Marty Balin largely surrendered much of his creative input in the band he'd founded, and let Paul Kantner and Grace Slick dominate the songwriting and singing on all but one cut ("Young Girl Sunday Blues"). The group had found the preceding album a little too perfect, and not fully representative of the musicians or what they were about, and they were determined to do the music their way on Baxter's; additionally, they'd begun to see how far they could take music (and music could take them) in concert, in terms of capturing variant states of consciousness.

Essentially, After Bathing at Baxter's was the group's attempt to create music that captured what the psychedelic experience sounded and felt like to them from the inside; on a psychic level, it was an introverted exercise in music-making and a complete reversal of the extroverted experience in putting together Surrealistic Pillow. Toward that end, they were working "without a net," for although Al Schmitt was the nominal producer, he gave the group the freedom to indulge in any experimentation they chose to attempt, effectively letting them produce themselves. They'd earned the privilege, after two huge hit singles and the Top Five success of the prior album, all of which had constituted RCA's first serious new rock success (and the label's first venture to the music's cutting edge) since Elvis Presley left the Army. The resulting record was startlingly different from their two prior LPs; there were still folk and blues elements present in the music, but these were mostly transmuted into something very far from what any folksinger or bluesman might recognize. Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen, and Jack Casady cranked up their instruments; Spencer Dryden hauled out an array of percussive devices that was at least twice as broad as anything used on the previous album; and everybody ignored the length of what they were writing and recording, or how well they sang, or how cleanly their voices meshed. The group emerged four months later with one of the rawest, most in-your-face records to come out of the psychedelic era, and also a maddeningly uneven record, exciting and challenging in long stretches, yet elsewhere very close to stultifyingly boring, delightful in its most fulfilling moments (which were many), but almost deliberately frustrating in its digressions, and amid all of that, very often beautiful.

The album's 11 songs formed five loosely constructed "suites," that didn't ease listeners into those structures. Opening "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" (a Kantner-authored tribute to Fred Neil) amid a cascading wash of feedback leading to a slashing guitar figure, the band's three singers struggle to meld their voices and keep up. A softer, almost folk-like interlude, highlighted by Slick's upper-register keening, breaks up the beat until the guitar, bass, and drums crash back in, with a bit of piano embellishment. Then listeners get to the real break, an almost subdued interlude on the guitars, and a return to the song at a more frenzied pitch, the guitar part dividing and evolving into ever more brittle components until a crescendo and more feedback leads to "A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly." This brilliantly comical and clever percussion showcase co-authored by Spencer Dryden and the band's manager, Bill Thompson, is a million miles beyond any drummer's featured number in any popular band of that era, and it leads into Marty Balin's "Young Girl Sunday Blues," the most rhythmically consistent song here and one of a tiny handful of moments that seem to slightly resemble the band's past work. The aforementioned tracks comprise just the first suite, designated "Steetmasse."

"The War Is Over" suite opens with "Martha," the album's folk-style interlude, almost a throwback to the group's original sound, except that the listener suddenly finds himself in the midst of a psychedelic delirium, heralded by the dissonant accompaniment and a high-energy fuzztone guitar solo (spinning out sitar-like notes) coming out of nowhere and a speed change that slows the tempo to zero, as though the tape (or time, or the listener's perception of it) were stretching out, and the pounding, exuberant "Wild Tyme," a celebration of seemingly uninhibited joy. "Hymn to the Older Generation" is made up of Kaukonen's "The Last Wall of the Castle," an alternately slashing and chiming guitar pyrotechnic showcase that rivaled anything heard from Jimi Hendrix or the Who that year, and Grace Slick's gorgeous "Rejoyce," a hauntingly beautiful excursion into literary psychedelia, whose James Joyce allusions carry the Lewis Carroll literary allusions of the previous album's "White Rabbit" into startlingly new and wonderful (if discursive) directions and depths. "How Suite It Is" opens with the album's single, the lean, rhythmic "Watch Her Ride," whose pretty harmonies and gently psychedelic lyrics persuaded RCA that this was their best shot at AM airplay and, true to form on an album filled with contradictions, it leads into "Spare Chaynge," the crunching, searing, sometimes dirge-like nine-minute jam by Kaukonen, Dryden, and Casady that wasn't ever going to get on AM radio -- ever -- and, indeed, might well initially repel any Airplane fan who only knew their hit singles. "Shizoforest Love Suite" closes the album with Slick's "Two Heads," with its vocal acrobatics and stop-and-go beat, and "Won't You Try"/"Saturday Afternoon," the latter Kantner's musical tribute to the first San Francisco "Be-In" (memorialized more conventionally by the Byrds on "Renaissance Fair"); it features many of the more subdued, relaxed, languid moments on the record, divided by a killer fuzz-laden guitar solo.

Needless to say, this is not the album for neophytes -- "Spare Chaynge" remains an acquired taste, a lot more aimless than, say, the extended jams left behind by the Quicksilver Messenger Service, though it did point the way toward what Kaukonen and Casady would aim for more successfully when they formed Hot Tuna. But most of the rest is indisputably among the more alluring musical experimentation of the period, and Kantner's "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" and "Watch Her Ride," as well as Balin's "Young Girl Sunday Blues," proved that the group could still rock out with a beat, even if not so prettily or cleanly as before. (AllMusic)

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1967 - Love - Forever Changes - 50th Anniversary Edition (2018)

1967 - Love - Forever Changes 
- 50th Anniversary Edition (2018) @320

The record represents one of the best blends of folk and rock up to that point and is also notable for its brilliant use of strings and sparing but extremely effective south-of-the-border horn arrangements. Moreover, the songs—nine by Lee plus two by guitarist Bryan MacLean, including the classic “Alone Again Or”—feature complex, absorbing melodies and intriguing lyrics that sound as engaging after a hundred listens as they do the first time around.

The participation of studio pros from L.A.’s so-called Wrecking Crew reportedly inspired Arthur Lee’s cohorts to do their best work.

Lee’s verses could be cryptic, to put it mildly. He did throw in occasional lines that made sense and reflected the times, such as “The news today will be the movies for tomorrow” and “They’re locking them up today, they’re throwing away the key / I wonder who it’ll be tomorrow, you or me?” More often, though, Lee’s impressionistic lyrics sound like the result of an LSD trip: “At my house, I’ve got no shackles / You can come and look if you want to / In the halls you’ll see the mantles / Where the light shines dim all around you / And the streets are paved with gold / And if someone asks you, you can call my name.” No, I don’t know what he’s driving at here, but the vocal and guitar-based music is delivered with such urgency that these lines have become imprinted in my brain; I didn’t have to look them up to write them down.

Bruce Botnick, who produced the album with Lee, apparently deserves much credit for its success. Botnick, who engineered Love’s first two albums and also worked with Buffalo Springfield, brought in session musicians from L.A.’s famous so-called Wrecking Crew. (He also tried to bring in Neil Young, who apparently wound up playing little or no role.) Forever Changes’ “And More Again” and “The Daily Planet” feature the Crew’s Carol Kaye on bass guitar, Don Randi on keyboards, Billy Strange on electric rhythm guitar, and Hal Blaine on drums. Randi also adds piano on “Old Man” and “Bummer in the Summer” and plays harpsichord on “The Red Telephone.” The participation of these pros reportedly inspired Arthur Lee’s cohorts to do their best work on the remaining tracks.

The handsomely packaged Forever Changes: 50th Anniversary Edition (a release limited to 15,000 numbered copies) does justice to this classic recording. The package devotes two of its four CDs to excellent remasters of the original stereo and mono albums. (I often find mono mixes superfluous, but given the importance of the music and the extent of the differences between the two mixes here, I appreciate having both.) A third disc offers alternate stereo mixes of the original LP and “Wonder People (I Do Wonder),” an outtake from the session, while a fourth CD collects 14 related recordings, among them the single versions of “Alone Again Or” and “A House Is Not a Motel”; a cover of Sam the Sham’s “Wooly Bully” from the sessions; a demo called “Hummingbirds” that evolved into “The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This”; and backing tracks for “A House Is Not a Motel,” “Live and Let Live,” and “Wonder People (I Do Wonder).”

For longtime fans, this should add up to a perfect package. For newbies, it will be a revelation. (byjeffburger)

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Savoy Brown

Shake Down

(1967)

 

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The Foundations

From the Foundations

[Expanded Edition]

(1967)

 

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1967 - Cream - Disraeli Gears (Deluxe Edition)

1967 - Cream - Disraeli Gears (Deluxe Edition) (Flac)

England was an interesting musical place to be in 1967, as rock’s preeminent pair of power trios laid their respective claims to greatness. On one side, the Jimi Hendrix Experience exploded as brash newcomers and rewrote every rule in the guitarist’s instruction manual; on the other, Cream culled from each member’s distinguished backgrounds and blended a wide array of influences into a sophisticated sonic offering. Although stylistically different in many respects, both groups shared gifted musicians, solid rhythmic foundations, and disappointingly short life spans. While the Experience dazzled the London scene in 1967 with the release of its freshman and sophomore records, (the landmark Are You Experienced, and underrated follow-up, Axis: Bold as Love), Cream countered with Disraeli Gears, a suitable compliment to it debut from the previous year. Now, with a fresh look and an extra disc of bonus material courtesy of the Deluxe Edition treatment, Disraeli Gears can be revisited, taking listeners back in time to that wonderful year of 1967…

Anchored by a handful of songs that were to grow into rock staples, the album is often overlooked as an amazing display of experimentation and contrast. The 11 original tracks are a hodge-podge of sounds, shifting musical genres at dizzying speed, as each band member shines in his own ways. From Jack Bruce’s impassioned vocals to Eric Clapton’s sizzling fretwork to Ginger Baker’s precision drumming, there can be no question as to the group’s pedigree and purpose; Cream was a virtuoso band confident in its collective abilities and determined to follow its musical desires in a variety of directions. Weaving aspects of Delta blues, English blues, jazz, and psychedelic rock together into a cohesive album, Cream proved that music need not be formulaic in order to resonate with power. What makes the album even more remarkable is the liner notes’ mention that it was recorded in six days. Less than a week to produce a recording of this quality? Simply amazing, and a testament to the level of musicianship possessed by the band, as well as the abilities of studio wizard Felix Pappalardi.

The Deluxe package provides generous twin CDs to enjoy; Disc 1 features the stereo version of the original album, while Disc 2 offers the mono version. Each disc also includes bonus material that shows various developmental stages — of the music, and the band itself — including stereo and mono out-takes of “Lawdy Mama” (what would soon morph into “Strange Brew”) and “Blue Condition” (featuring Clapton’s vocals). Of particular interest are the five demos on the first CD. The rough takes of “We’re Going Wrong” and “SWLABR” provide freeze frame moments of Cream in the studio, polishing the songs and finding the proverbial groove. The remaining three tracks are more notable for their musicality: “Hey Now Princess” is highlighted by a fierce duel between Clapton and Baker, while Bruce spits out lyrics as if he were adlibbing; “Weird of Hermiston” plods along as an interesting example of slow Britpop; “The Clearout” grows from a marching band beat into a steady dose of vintage Clapton riffing.

Balancing these demos, Disc 2 offers nine tracks from Cream’s BBC appearances. If listeners can bear the excruciating exuberance of the BBC host, the live cuts (and interview snippets) permit a rare glimpse of the mighty Cream working its way through mostly new material, and getting its musical balance.

Although Cream was to issue only two more albums and ultimately break up before the close of the ’60s, Disraeli Gears remains a significant part of the group’s creative resume. Three and a half decades ago, the recording was a far cry from the status quo. Now, all these years later, the album and its Deluxe Edition enhancements serve as a fitting tribute to a fine band that was not afraid to indulge itself, in more ways than one. (Pop Matters)

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Phil Ochs - 1967 - Pleasures of the Harbour

Phil Ochs - 1967 - Pleasures of the Harbour @320

LINER NOTES FOR PHIL OCHS'S PLEASURES OF THE HARBOR

By Richie Unterberger

If ever a record by a major 1960s artist was a "transitional" album, Phil Ochs’ Pleasures of the Harbor was it. The LP was his first recording to use full band arrangements; his first to almost entirely depart from the topical protest folk songs with which he had made his reputation; his first to be recorded for a then-young A&M label; and his first to be recorded in Los Angeles, the city to which he moved from New York in the late 1960s. It is undoubtedly his most sonically ambitious work, and if the almost ludicrously huge scope of his ambitions guaranteed an uneven album, it nevertheless contained some of his most enduring and successful songs and performances.

    When Ochs began working on Pleasures of the Harbor in August 1967, he was among the last of the major American folk singer-songwriters of the early-to-mid-1960s who had yet to make the leap from folk to rock. With the exception of a (very good) electric version of  "I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore" on a 1966 single, all of his prior recordings-including three full albums for Elektra-had featured plain acoustic guitar-and-voice arrangements. In fact he had not done any recording at all since the sessions (actually a mixture of live and studio taping) in early 1966 that had been issued as Phil Ochs in Concert. In the interim (and even by early 1966), acoustic folk music had been totally overtaken by the folk-rock of his chief rival Bob Dylan and the likes of the Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, and the Mamas & the Papas. By the summer of 1967, even folk-rock was passing its peak as the psychedelia of Sgt. Pepper, the Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow, and the Doors’ debut album shook the top of the charts. Ochs continued to write songs at a good clip, but recording-wise sat on the sidelines during these crucial 18 months, in part due to prolonged business machinations that saw him switch both managers and record companies.

    Pleasures of the Harbor may have been the first Ochs album to use electric instruments and elaborate arrangements, but it would not be folk-rock, exactly. Influenced by rock’n’roll, jazz, soundtrack music, classical composition, and even the electronic avant-garde, Ochs sought elaborate, sometimes orchestral settings that would complement the progressively complex poetry of his lyrics. Moreover, he wanted each song to be strikingly different from each other in mood and production, and yet wished the album to flow together well as a whole. Instrumental collaborators in this process would be producer Larry Marks, arranger Ian Freebairn-Smith (responsible for translating Ochs’ countermelodies into finished products utilizing numerous instruments), and pianist Lincoln Mayorga, who gave classical, ragtime, and lounge jazz spices when needed.

    Baroque pop-rock production-and, perhaps, over-production-was fully in evidence on the opening track, "Cross My Heart," with its drums, harpsichord, flutes, strings, orchestral horns, and vocal overdubs. The song served notice that Ochs was largely abandoning explicit social comment for more abstract statements whose lyrics demanded multiple listenings to absorb all the nuances. Ochs was beginning to write long songs at this point, and in fact Phil might have gotten carried away with "Cross My Heart," as he cut several verses from the number after the album was finished (one of those verses appears on the demo version of the tune on Rhino’s Farewells & Fantasies box set). Nothing in the six minutes of "Flower Lady" was a waste, however, the track-with strings, oboe, and piano-standing as the best of the several pseudo-chamber classical arrangements that Ochs and Marks would attempt in the late 1960s. The moving, just-this-side-of-maudlin composition, with its almost cinematic narrative of a flower lady all but ignored amongst the bustle of numerous contrasting characters, also boasted one of Ochs’ best melodies. Even before Pleasures of the Harbor, cover versions had already appeared by British Invasion stars Peter & Gordon and folk-rock duo Jim & Jean; the Byrds, unfortunately, declined to record it although they had considered doing so.

    "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" is perhaps Ochs’ best-known song, and certainly the most celebrated track from his post-acoustic folk recording career. Inspired by the murder of  Kitty Genovese in New York, during which several witnesses did nothing to stop the killing for fear of getting involved, it was also Ochs’ most imaginative arrangement. The appalling apathy of idle bystanders doing nothing to stop a woman getting stabbed, and several other similar situations laid out by the subsequent verses, was juxtaposed with a jaunty Dixieland-style backup (with Mayorga on tack piano) and Ochs’ splendidly deadpan vocal. Where most songwriters would have let the statement boil over into self-righteous rage, Ochs shrewdly realized that the message would hit home with a far more chilling punch via understatement and gallows humor. This should have been a hit single, and in fact did become popular in Los Angeles and Seattle. Its chart prospects, however, were scotched by a reference to marijuana. No less than three separate releases of the cut on 45-an unedited one, a version which took out the verse containing the offending word, and another that simply removed the word "marijuana"-were to no avail, as the single failed to break nationally.

    "I’ve Had Her," a song of bitter romance with a devastating (and heartless) putdown line, had one of the album’s more lugubrious arrangements, highlighting Mayorga’s classical-style piano. It was back to lighthearted Dixieland jazz, however, for "Miranda," one of the few songs from this period of Ochs’ development that could be fairly characterized as fun, though it didn’t dispense with acute narrative detail. Certainly Ochs’ eye for savage yet witty character sketches reached an apex in the eight-minute "The Party," which like "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" was a perfect match of lyric and arrangement. Ochs took the (singing, not playing) role of the pianist at a party of upper-class snobs, though he didn’t exclude himself from criticism either. Lincoln Mayorga played the role of lounge lizard to the hilt, mimicking the styles of Bach, Beethoven, and Schumann, and purposefully misquoting standards such as "Stardust" to lounge jazz backing. The title cut returned to rich, somewhat overblown orchestration, however, with its bittersweet tales of sailors seeking escape on shore leave, though this was probably a metaphor for escapes of all sorts by everyone, not just sailors.

    No track in the Phil Ochs canon is more controversial than "Crucifixion," not so much for its lyrics-although those were plenty controversial-as its musique concrete-like arrangement. Its ten verses of martyred heroes couldn’t help but be interpreted as a comment on the still-fresh assassination of President Kennedy. In fact it did bring tears to the soon-to-be-slain Robert Kennedy when Ochs sang it to him. In keeping with the eclectic experimentalism of Pleasures of the Harbor, however, Ochs decided to set his vocal against an eerie morass of loops, electric harpsichord, and washes of electronic distortion, arranged by Joseph Byrd (leader of the excellent late-1960s experimental electronic rock group the United States of America). This made him sound for all the world like a lone voice drowning in an avant-garde thunderstorm, which in the eyes of many fans obscured the terrible beauty of the song as heard when played solo, on acoustic guitar, in concert. The point is now moot as live acoustic versions of the song were eventually released, from 1968 (on There and Now: Live in Vancouver, 1968) and 1970 (on the Chords of Fame anthology and the Farewells & Fantasies box).

    Pleasures of the Harbor, clocking in at more than 50 minutes, was an outrageously long album for 1967, with most of songs exceeding five minutes and some approaching the ten-minute mark. It was also not terribly successful, peaking at #168 in the charts. While Ochs would not retreat to acoustic folk for his subsequent A&M LPs, and would continue to write songs as unusual (and often lengthy) in construction throughout the rest of the 1960s, he would never again employ textures as recklessly varied as those heard on Pleasures of the Harbor

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1967 - Arlo Guthrie - Alice's Restaurant

1967 - Arlo Guthrie - Alice's Restaurant (Flac)

Although he'd been a fixture on the East Coast folk circuit for several years, Arlo Guthrie did not release his debut album until mid-1967. A majority of the attention directed at Alice's Restaurant focuses on the epic 18-plus-minute title track, which sprawled over the entire A-side of the long-player. However, it is the other half-dozen Guthrie compositions that provide an insight into his uniformly outstanding, yet astoundingly overlooked, early sides on Warner Bros. Although arguably not 100 percent factual, "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" -- which was recorded in front of a live audience -- is rooted in a series of real incidents.

This decidedly anti-establishment saga of garbage dumps closed on Thanksgiving, good ol' Officer Obie, as well as Guthrie's experiences with the draft succeeds not only because of the unusual and outlandish situations that the hero finds himself in; it is also his underdog point of view and sardonic delivery that maximize the effect in the retelling. In terms of artistic merit, the studio side is an equally endowed effort containing six decidedly more traditional folk-rock compositions. Among the standouts are the haunting "Chilling of the Evening," which is given an arrangement perhaps more aptly suited to a Jimmy Webb/Glen Campbell collaboration.

There is a somewhat dated charm in "Ring-Around-a-Rosy Rag," a sly, uptempo, and hippie-friendly bit of jug band nostalgia. "I'm Going Home" is an underrated minor-chord masterpiece that is not only reminiscent of Roger McGuinn's "Ballad of Easy Rider," but also spotlights a more sensitive and intricate nature to Guthrie's craftsmanship. Also worth mentioning is the first installment of "The Motorcycle Song" -- which was updated and discussed further on the live self-titled follow-up release Arlo (1968) -- notable for the extended discourse on the "significance of the pickle." (PurePleasureRecords)

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The Faroe Boys

(1967)

 

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The Kinks - 1967 - Something Else (Deluxe)

 The Kinks - 1967 - Something Else (Deluxe) @320

1 David Watts

2 Death of a Clown

3 Two Sisters

4 No Return

5 Harry Rag

6 Tin Soldier Man

7 Situation Vacant

8 Love Me Till the Sun Shines

9 Lazy Old Sun

10 Afternoon Tea

11 Funny Face

12 End of the Season

13 Waterloo Sunset

14 Act Nice and Gentle

15 Mr. Pleasant

16 Susannah's Still Alive (Mono Mix)

17 Autumn Almanac

18 Harry Rag (Mono Alternate Take)

19 David Watts (Mono Alternate Take)

20 Afternoon Tea (Canadian Mono Mix)

21 Sunny Afternoon (Live at Maida Vale Studios, 1967)

22 Autumn Almanac (Live At the BBC)

23 Mr. Pleasant (Live at Maida Vale Studios, 1967)

24 Susannah's Still Alive (Live at Maida Vale Studios, 1967)

25 David Watts (Live at Maida Vale Studios, 1967)

26 Love Me Till the Sun Shines (Live at The Playhouse Theatre, 1967)

27 Death of a Clown (Live At the BBC)

28 Good Luck Charm (BBC Live)

29 Harry Rag (Live At the BBC)

30 Little Women (Mono Backing Track)

Disc: 2

1 David Watts (Stereo Mix)

2 Death of a Clown (Stereo Mix)

3 Two Sisters (Stereo Mix)

4 No Return (Stereo Mix)

5 Harry Rag (Stereo Mix)

6 Tin Soldier Man (Stereo Mix)

7 Situation Vacant (Stereo Mix)

8 Love Me Till the Sun Shines (Stereo Mix)

9 Lazy Old Sun (Stereo Mix)

10 Afternoon Tea (Stereo Mix)

11 Funny Face (Stereo Mix)

12 End of the Season (Stereo Mix)

13 Waterloo Sunset (Stereo Mix)

14 Susannah's Still Alive

15 Autumn Almanac (Stereo Mix)

16 Sand On My Shoes (Stereo Mix)

17 Afternoon Tea (Stereo Alternate Version)

18 Mr. Pleasant (Stereo Alternate Version)

19 Lazy Old Sun (Stereo Alternate Vocal Version)

20 Funny Face (Stereo Alternate Version)

21 Afternoon Tea (German Stereo Mix)

22 Tin Soldier Man (Stereo Alternate Backing Track)

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The Who - 1967 - The Who Sell Out (Super Deluxe) (2021)

The Who - 1967 - The Who Sell Out (Super Deluxe) (2021) Flac

Pete Townshend originally planned The Who Sell Out as a concept album of sorts that would simultaneously mock and pay tribute to pirate radio stations, complete with fake jingles and commercials linking the tracks. For reasons that remain somewhat ill defined, the concept wasn't quite driven to completion, breaking down around the middle of side two (on the original vinyl configuration). Nonetheless, on strictly musical merits, it's a terrific set of songs that ultimately stands as one of the group's greatest achievements. "I Can See for Miles" (a Top Ten hit) is the Who at their most thunderous; tinges of psychedelia add a rush to "Armenia City in the Sky" and "Relax"; "I Can't Reach You" finds Townshend beginning to stretch himself into quasi-spiritual territory; and "Tattoo" and the acoustic "Sunrise" show introspective, vulnerable sides to the singer/songwriter that had previously been hidden. "Rael" was another mini-opera, with musical motifs that reappeared in Tommy. The album is as perfect a balance between melodic mod pop and powerful instrumentation as the Who (or any other group) would achieve; psychedelic pop was never as jubilant, not to say funny (the fake commercials and jingles interspersed between the songs are a hoot).

The Who Sell Out has seen two significant expansions prior to 2021's Super Deluxe Edition. Ten outtakes were added to the 1995 reissue of the album, while the 2009 deluxe edition contained both the stereo and mono mixes along with 29 bonus tracks. Nearly all of this material is on the 2021 Super Deluxe Edition, a hefty box containing five CDs, a pair of 7" singles, a hardcover book, and a bunch of memorabilia (the reissue also had accompanying relatively bare-bones LP and CD editions, which added various outtakes to the album). Those earlier expansions did unearth the meatier unheard music from The Who Sell Out sessions, yet there are still some significant discoveries here, notably the disc of unreleased Pete Townshend demos which include the rarities "Kids! Do You Want Kids," "Inside Outside USA," and "Thinking of You All the While." There is also a disc of "Who Studio Sessions" from 1967 and 1968, which gathers alternate takes of familiar tunes and non-LP songs; nothing revelatory here, but it's all worthy. Of greater interest is the "The Road to Tommy 1968," a fourth disc which rounds up songs and singles cut between Sell Out and Tommy, including John Entwistle's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde," the surf wannabe "Call Me Lightning," the rocking "Magic Bus," and "Dogs," a flop single that pointed the way toward Brit-pop. Collectively, there is a fair amount of repetition -- within the box itself, not to mention the previous editions -- yet the whole set remains compulsively listenable as it teems with imagination. The Who seemed to keep inventing and reinventing themselves on The Who Sell Out and that process of discovery not only remains enthralling decades later, it's worthy of a comprehensive set like this. (AllMusic)

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Millie Small - The Best Of Millie Small (1967) Flac

 

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The 13th Floor Elevators

Easter Everywhere

(1967)

 

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Scott Walker - 1967 - Scott

Scott Walker - 1967 - Scott @320

Scott Walker's success as a teen idol singer of Spectorish ballads with the Walker Brothers in no way prepared listeners for the mordant, despairing lyrics of his solo debut. To compound the surprise, he does his best to imitate the vocal girth of Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra on this mix of original tunes and covers, which also features sweeping, bloated orchestral arrangements. It was hardly rock, and pop of a most oddball sort, but it found a surprisingly large audience -- in Britain, anyway, where it reached the Top Three in 1967. Poke behind the velvet curtain of the languid MOR arrangements, and one finds a surprisingly literate existentialist at the helm of these proceedings. His lyrical nuances were probably lost on his audience of predominately teenage girls, though they've earned him a small cult audience that endures to this day. Besides presenting three of his own compositions, Walker covers tunes by Weill/Mann, Tim Hardin, and Andre & Dory Previn on this album, as well as three songs by his favorite writer, Jacques Brel. Highlights include his exquisitely anguished rendition of Brel's classic "Amsterdam" and his dramatic cover of the early-'60s Toni Fisher pop ballad "The Big Hurt." (AllMusic)

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The Sonics

Introducing The Sonics

(1967)  [2004]

 

 

Active for 2 months 320

 

 

 

 

 

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