It’s safe to say that when two of a band’s signature tunes are collected on one 45 RPM record, it’s a prime candidate to become the featured single of the day. Such was the case with a Yes single released in 1972. The band that would eventually become known as Yes was formed by vocalist Jon Anderson and bassist Chris Squire in London, England in 1968. Squire had been in a band called Mabel Greer’s Toyshop with vocalist Clive Bayley, drummer Bill Bruford, and guitarist Peter Banks. Bayley left the band, as did Banks, but Banks returned after only three weeks, and the band added organist/pianist Tony Kaye. Now Anderson, Banks, Squire, Kaye and Bruford were in the lineup, and Banks came up with the name Yes, with the rationale that the three-letter name would stand out on posters. The band soon distinguished itself by taking other people’s songs and turning them into expanded, progressive compositions (e.g. their cover version of The Byrds’ “I See You” from their debut album). Their second album, “Time And A Word” (1970), featured a 30-piece orchestra. Before this album’s release, Peter Banks was fired and replaced by Steve Howe. “The Yes Album” (1971) was the first Yes album to consist entirely of original compositions by the band and the first to be produced by Eddie Offord. After the release of this album, Tony Kaye was either fired or quit; he was replaced by highly-regarded session musician Rick Wakeman. With Wakeman on board, the classic Yes lineup was complete, paving the way for the release of “Fragile” (1972), which spawned today’s featured single: “Roundabout” b/w “Long Distance Runaround”.
“Roundabout” is arguably Yes’s most recognizable song, and it exists in two forms: an 8 minute, 32 second version included on the album, and an edited, 3 minute, 27 second version featured on the single. And the single was rather successful, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard singles chart. “Roundabout” featured all the elements of the classic Yes sound, with longer instrumental passages, firmer bass guitar playing from Chris Squire, and sublime, even abstract lyrics. It opens with an ominous sounding note (sounding like a piano note played backwards) and a classical-sounding acoustic guitar. This section lasts about 40 seconds before launching into the song proper, and for once I can’t say that the song is built around a simple guitar riff – rather, the melody is busy and erratic (and fluid). When the song reaches the first occurrence of the chorus, the wisdom of bringing in Wakeman becomes apparent as his percolating, ethereal keyboard (at times it resembles the sound of a church organ) floats effortlessly above the guitar din. About 4 minutes into the album version, Wakeman gets a chance to shine with a brief keyboard solo. 4 minutes and 55 seconds in, we get a recurrence of the opening melody, with Anderson softly singing the chorus: “In and around the lake/Mountains come out of the sky and they/Stand there”. [Well, mountains don’t come out of the sky, but who can argue with such lyrical flair?] This gives way to yet another distinct passage, with a much lengthier keyboard solo, weaved in between a Steve Howe guitar solo, which in turn leads us to the end of the song, with a rocking version of the chorus followed by the band dreamily singing “Da da da da/Da da da” into the classical guitar strumming the closing melody, bringing us full circle. Even by the lofty standards of 1970’s progressive rock, one has to admit this is a rather elaborate piece.
“Long Distance Runaround”, by comparison, is relatively simple, although there’s a lot going on here as well. As one critic has noted, in the context of the album it initially seems no more significant than any of the shorter pieces on the LP that are sandwiched in between the three epics “Roundabout”, “South Side Of The Sky”, and “Heart Of The Sunrise”, which together account for about two-thirds of the album’s total running time. Perhaps this is why the song was relegated to the B-side of this single. It begins with a guitar and a keyboard playing an upbeat melody in unison, joined shortly by the rhythm section (Squire’s bass once again plays a prominent role). Steve Howe’s guitar incisively cuts through the song’s melody with a remarkable economy – he sounds as if he is racing towards the song’s finish – and Anderson’s vocals are delivered with a dreamy indifference that somehow seems appropriate for the lyrical content (“Cold summer listening/Hot colour melting the anger to stone”). The song is not at all like some of the more ornate pieces in the band’s repertoire; even so, the insistent rhythm of the song was a good indication of the direction the band would eventually take.

Jethro Tull evolved out of a seven-piece white soul group called the John Evan Band (later called the John Evan Smash), in which Ian Anderson, Glen Cornick and John Evan were all members. Based initially in Blackpool, they moved to London to try to obtain more bookings, but short of money, most of the members moved back to Blackpool, leaving behind Anderson and Cornick. They joined forces with blues guitarist Mick Abrahams and his friend, drummer Clive Bunker. The band had trouble getting repeat bookings, and resorted to changing their names in order to continue playing the London club circuit; a member of the staff of their booking agent supplied the name Jethro Tull and it stuck because that happened to be the name they were using when a club owner liked them enough to book them a second time. Soon they were signed to Chrysalis Records (a subsidiary of Island Records), and their first album “This Was”, was released in 1968. Shortly after the release of this LP, Mick Abrahams left the band. Future Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi briefly filled in for Abrahams, but soon the band had found a more permanent replacement: Martin Barre. The second album, “Stand Up” (1969), became the band’s only number one album in the U.K. and branched out further from the blues than the first album, establishing Jethro Tull as a progressive rock band. The band added John Evan as a keyboardist and recorded their third album, “Benefit” (1970). Today’s featured single, “The Witch’s Promise” b/w “Teacher”, was released as a stand-alone single in 1969, and “The Witch’s Promise” did not initially appear on “Benefit” (although it did later appear on a CD release of the album), but “Teacher” did, although the version on the single is a completely different take, arrangement and mix than the version on the album.
“The Witch’s Promise” continues the band’s move away from the blues, and the track can perhaps best be described as folk music. Ian Anderson’s flute and acoustic guitar open the song, and overall the song has a rather muted feel to it. The percussion is very light, and the keyboards are present, but clearly in the background. The rhythm section is hardly there at all, and the track is clearly driven by the acoustic guitar and the flute (the flute plays an especially prominent role in the beginning and end of the song). The lyrics give the song even more of a pastoral feel: Lend me your ear while I call you a fool/You were kissed by a witch one night in the wood/And later insisted your feelings were true/The witch’s promise was coming/Believing he listened while laughing you flew”. The lyrics seem to refer to three distinct entities: the person addressed in the second person (“You were kissed by a witch”), the witch, and a third person, referred to only as “he” or “him”. The person to which the song is addressed, one assumes, is a woman who falsely told a man (the “he” of the song) that she loved him; the singer warns her that what goes around comes around and he will ultimately leave her (“don’t you wait up for him; he’s going to be late”. At least that’s my interpretation of the song. The rhyme structure of the song seems to be: ABACA, with the first, third and fifth lines rhyming most of the time, but not always.

.”]“Teacher” is more standard fare for Jethro Tull, if such a thing exists. It starts off with a simple riff which nonetheless gives the band a solid foundation on which to build their sound. Bunker has much more to do here on the drum track. On the single version, Anderson’s flute is not heard (nor is the organ); instead, the guitar parts are more prominent. The “lesson” of the “teacher” referred to in the lyrics is not a sublime revelation, but I suppose it’s still a useful one: “Jump up, look around/Find yourself some fun/No sense in sitting there hating everyone/No man’s an island and his castle isn’t home/The nest is full of nothing when the bird has flown.” What’s great is that apparently the teacher is hipper than his student: “So I took a journey/Threw my world into the sea/With me went the teacher/Who found fun instead of me” – something to which someone as decidedly un-hip as me can relate. The song is definitely less restrained than “The Witch’s Promise” while still sounding rather folk-like and not at all resembling the proto-metal they would release in their salad days in the 1970’s. It’s still a very solid song – I like the lead guitar work particularly – and at least in the United States, this song is much more recognizable than “The Witch’s Promise”, as it has received much airplay on FM radio. [This might not be true in the U.K., where “The Witch’s Promise” single peaked at #4.] In addition, it can easily be argued that “Teacher” is the better song (it’s more accessible to someone who isn’t a die-hard Jethro Tull fan anyhow, at least in my opinion), and thus this might even qualify as a true double-A side.
This single (catalog #: WIP 6077) did in fact have a picture sleeve. It’s my new default pic, in fact (as of 4-18-2008). And it’s a pretty nice picture sleeve, in my opinion, with the red tint. The label was a green Chrysalis label (with the Chrysalis logo with the butterfly at the bottom and the song title at the top). I’m not sure if this was the standard label for U.K. releases. The single was produced by Terry Ellis and Ian Anderson.

External links:
Jethro Tull performing The Witch’s Promise in 1970

Genesis was formed in 1967 when Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks were students at Charterhouse School in Godalming. The original lineup consisted of Peter Gabriel (vocals), Anthony Phillips (guitar), Tony Banks (keyboards), Mike Rutherford (bass and guitar), and Chris Stewart (drums). The band (minus Stewart) was conceived of as merely a songwriting partnership, but they took to performing when they could not find anyone willing to perform their material. The band was signed to Decca Records in 1968 by Charterhouse alumnus Jonathan King. They released two unsuccessful singles in 1968, at a time when the band’s output consisted of psychedelic pop similar to the early Bee Gees and other bands of the era. After the first single, “The Silent Sun” b/w “That’s Me” was released, Chris Stewart left the band and was replaced by John Silver. In spite of the lack of success of the early singles, Decca opted to release an album by the band, recorded in August 1968 when the band was still in school (but on a school holiday). The resulting album, “From Genesis to Revelation” (1969), also did poorly on initial release. Silver was replaced by John Mayhew before recording began on the next album, “Trespass” (1970), which was also the band’s debut album on Charisma Records (with ABC/Impulse as the original U.S. distributor) and saw the band recording longer compositions and moving away from their psychedelic roots towards progressive rock. The album reached #1 in Belgium. Ill health and recurring stage fright caused Phillips to leave the band in the summer of 1970, causing the band to doubt whether it could continue. The band decided to forge ahead, replacing Mayhew with Phil Collins and Phillips with Steve Barnard. The tenure of Barnard was short-lived, and he was replaced by Steve Hackett in January 1971.
The band’s next album, “Nursery Cryme” (1971), was not a hit on its initial release in the U.K. and U.S., but was an unexpected hit in Italy, where it reached #4 and helped spur Genesis’s European success. “Foxtrot” (1972) became the band’s first album to reach the U.K. Top 20 and was a hit in several European countries, although it did not chart in the United States, where the band still failed to achieve the popularity that some of their progressive rock contemporaries held in the States such as Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd. They released “Genesis Live” (1973) as their first live album, and reached the Top 10 in the U.K. for the first time. “Selling England by the Pound” (1973) became their highest-charting album up to that point in both the U.K. (#3) and the U.S. (#70), and also contained their first charting single in the U.K., “I Know What I Like” (#17). This was followed by the ambitious double album “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” (1974), another successful LP that would turn out to be Gabriel’s last album with the band. It also spawned the single “The Carpet Crawlers” b/w “The Waiting Room (Evil Jam)”, which is today’s featured single.
The concept album “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” is about a Puerto Rican juvenile delinquent named Rael living in New York City, who is swept underground to face bizarre creatures and nightmarish dangers to rescue his brother John. In this portion of the Lamb story, Rael finds himself in a red carpeted corridor, filled with kneeling people that are slowly crawling towards a red door at the end of the corridor (“The crawlers cover the floor in the red ochre corridor/For my second sight of people, they’ve more lifeblood than before/They’re moving in time to a heavy wooden door/Where the needles eye is winking, closing in on the poor”). The only way out is through the next chamber (hence, the chorus of “[w]e’ve gotta get in to get out”). Rael is able to move about freely, so he dashes past them towards the door and goes through it. Beyond the door is a table with a candle-lit feast of food on it, and beyond that, a spiral staircase that leads upwards and out of sight. This song is one of the most memorable of the Peter Gabriel era – he uses his lowest register here – and it became a minor hit as well as a fan favorite. A new version of the song was recorded in 1999, which reunited all five members from the classic Genesis era.
The B-side of this single, “Waiting Room (Evil Jam)”, is a live version of a song originally included on “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”. An eerie-sounding instrumental, “Waiting Room” represents the point in “Lamb” at which the album’s protagonist, Rael, has been left alone in a cavern by his guide, Lilywhite Lilith. A mysterious bright light comes up in the tunnel to the left of him, so intensely that it blinds him. In desperation, he hurls a stone towards the light, and the light fades just enough so that he can see again, and he catches sight of two mysterious globes before the cave collapses on him. The song is unique because it is something Genesis had never attempted up to this point and would never attempt again: a free-form improvisational jam. In the first part of the song, all musicians produce random, scary sounds. A keyboard cue signals the end of the first part and the main riff emerges from the cacophony of sound, signaling the beginning of the second part of the song – a melodic, up-tempo section. Heard in isolation, the track loses some of its potency, but “Waiting Room” complements the storyline well.
The single (catalog #: CB 251) was issued on Charisma Records in April 1975. I do not know if a picture sleeve was issued with this single, although the Portuguese release did have one (shown above). With Gabriel departing the band in 1975, the band decided to continue as a quartet, with Phil Collins taking over lead vocal duties. Genesis released “A Trick of the Tail” (1976) and “Wind and Wuthering” (1976), and the “Seconds Out” (1977) live album. This was Steve Hackett’s last album with the band, with Rutherford taking on guitar duties in the studio. The next album, “…And Then There Were Three” (1978), was the band’s first U.S. Platinum-certified album, and marked the beginning of their move away from progressive rock towards a more commercial sound. It yielded their first U.S. radio hit as well, “Follow You Follow Me”. After spending most of 1979 on hiatus, Genesis returned in 1980 with “Duke”, their most commercial album to date, and an album which contained the hits “Misunderstanding” and “Turn it on Again”. This album was followed by “Abacab” (1981), an album that featured Collins’ gated reverb drum sound, and “Three Sides Live” (1982), a live album which contained one side of studio tracks. The self-titled “Genesis” (1983) continued the trend of radio-friendly albums and contained the hits “Mama”, “That’s All”, and “Home by the Sea”. The band reached the pinnacle of their commercial success with “Invisible Touch” (1986), and returned five years later with “We Can’t Dance” (1991). When Collins left the band in 1996, Banks and Rutherford opted to continue, appointing ex-Stiltskin singer Ray Wilson as their new lead singer. The resulting album, “Calling All Stations” (1997) sold well in Europe, but did not fare as well in America, leading to the cancellation of a planned American tour, the dismissal of Wilson and the beginning of an extended hiatus for the band.

Renaissance was formed in January 1969 by former Yardbirds members Keith Relf (vocals, guitar, harmonica) and Jim McCarty (drums, vocals) as a new group devoted to experimentation between rock, folk and classical forms. To round out the lineup, they recruited Louis Cennamo (bass guitar), John Hawken (piano), and Relf’s sister Jane as an additional vocalist. The band began touring in May 1969, before recording for their first album had begun, and released their debut album, “Renaissance”, later that year on Island Records (former Yardbird bassist Paul Samwell-Smith produced the album). While the second album was being recorded, the original lineup split up; Jim McCarty was the first to leave the band, quitting just before a European tour because he hated to fly. Keith Relf and Louis Cennamo were next, leaving to form Armageddon. Hawken kept the band going by recruiting members of his former band, The Nashville Teens (guitarist Michael Dunford, bassist Neil Korner, singer Terry Crowe, and drummer Terry Slade). This lineup recorded one track (“Mr. Pine”) and played a few concerts in 1970; a final recording session reunited the original lineup minus Hawken, with Don Shin sitting in on keyboards. The resulting album, “Illusions” (1971), was released only in Germany initially (it was released in the U.K. in 1976). In the fall of 1970, Jane Relf left the band and was replaced by American folksinger Mary Louise “Binky” Collum. John Hawken, the last remaining member of the original lineup, also left and was replaced by John Tout.
At the time, the plan was for former members Relf and McCarty to continue work with the band as non-performing members (Relf as a producer and McCarty as a songwriter). Both were present when singer Annie Haslam auditioned for the band; she would replace the departing Collum. McCarty would write several songs for the band but Relf’s involvement would be short-lived. In the meantime, new manager Miles Copeland decided to reorganize the band by focusing on its strengths, which he saw as Haslam’s voice and John Tout’s piano. Michael Dunford was recruited once again, although he was replaced in short order by Mick Parsons, who died shortly thereafter in a car accident; he in turn was replaced by Rob Hendry. This lineup was eventually rounded out by bassist Jon Camp (who joined after a succession of bass players whose tenure was short-lived) and drummer Terence Sullivan. This lineup recorded the album “Prologue” (1972), which contained the single “Prologue” b/w “Share Some Love”. This is today’s featured single.
The A-side of this single, “Prologue”, demonstrates that while Renaissance’s transition from a folk rock band to a progressive rock outfit was well underway, the transition was well underway. It also demonstrates that Copeland’s perception that Haslam’s vocals and Tout’s piano playing were the band’s main strengths was essentially correct, as they are the most distinctive features of this track. The track starts out with a piano intro, soon accompanied by Haslam’s falsetto vocals. The song has no lyrics, but it is not really an instrumental track. And it may not be what you would expect from a rock band, but in 1972, when progressive rock was starting to spread its wings, with bands like Yes, Genesis and Focus finding receptive audiences, the time had come for a band like Renaissance. And while they did not reach the lofty heights of those bands, Renaissance did have a sizeable following.
The B-side of this single, “Spare Some Love”, is an acoustic ballad reminiscent of the material from the Relf-McCarty era of the band. Hendry’s acoustic guitar opens the track, followed in short order by Haslam’s vocals: “Shadows, darkness follow quiet/Shadows, you walk besides a shadow/Strangers, people passing by/Strangers, you walk beside a stranger”. The first half of the song sounds more like a soft rock track that a band like Bread would perform, but in the second half of the song, the song starts to sound more like a prog rock tune, with a funky bass line that sounds like it could have been lifted from Yes, some nice drum rolls courtesy of Sullivan, and, of course Tout’s piano, which is conspicuously absent in the first half of the track. We also hear some great a cappella singing by Haslam, before the last verse of the song, which concludes with Sullivan’s drumming, unaccompanied by other instruments, and a fade out. “Spare Some Love” is a worthy addition to the Renaissance catalog.
This single (catalog #: 3487) was released in the U.S. on Capitol Records in 1972, the American division of Sovereign-EMI (the band’s label in the U.K.). A picture sleeve was issued with this single (shown above). Hendry left the band shortly after the album was released, and was replaced by Peter Finberg for the subsequent tour, and on a more permanent basis by Michael Dunford. This lineup would remain intact for the next six years, starting with the next album, “Ashes Are Burning” (1973). This became their first album to chart in the U.S., peaking at #171 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. They left Sovereign-EMI for BTM in 1974 (with Sire as their U.S. distributor), and released “Turn of the Cards” (1974), an album with more lush, orchestral sounds. The band was starting to gain momentum in the U.S., their next album “Scheherazade and Other Stories” (1975), peaked at #48 in the U.S. “Live at Carnegie Hall” (1976), their first live album, contained highlights from the previous four albums; “Novella” (1977) came next, its release delayed in the U.K. by the bankruptcy of their label, BTM. “A Song for All Seasons” was released the following year, this album contained “Northern Lights”, which was a Top Ten hit in the U.K. With the unionization of professional orchestra musicians that followed, it was no longer possible for the band to continue with its orchestral sound, and for the next album, “Azure d’Or” (1979), they reinvented themselves as a synthesizer-based band, which did not go over well with their fan base; the album only reached #125 in the U.S. Shortly after the tour supporting this album, John Tout left the band, as did Terrence Sullivan shortly thereafter. Subsequent albums “Camera Camera” (1981) and “Time-Line” (1983) did not garner much commercial success, with “Candid Camera” their last album that charted in the U.S. (#197). In 1985, Camp left, and Dunford and Haslam fronted an acoustic version of the band before deciding to call it quits in 1987. In the mid 1990s, both Dunford and Haslam formed bands called Renaissance with different lineups and released albums under the Renaissance name. Renaissance reformed in 1998 with four of the five members from the “classic” era (1973-79): Dunford, Haslam, Sullivan and Tout. They also recruited musicians such as Roy Wood and Mickey Simmonds to help record the album “Tuscany” (2001). A supporting tour soon followed, but the band soon became inactive. Haslam and Dunford reformed the band to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the band (the newly reformed band was called Renaissance 2009. Haslam and Dunford were the only returning members from the 1970s incarnation of the band, although several members returned from the 2001 lineup. A tour of eastern North America and Japan and the release of a three song EP followed in 2010.

Pink Floyd had its genesis in an earlier band called Tea Set featuring guitarists Rado “Bob” Klose and Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason, and wind instrument player Rick Wright. All four had been in a band called Sigma 6 which had since broken up. Tea Set added guitarist/vocalist Syd Barrett (Roger Waters switched over to bass guitar), and the band was rechristened Pink Floyd (or The Pink Floyd), an amalgam of the names of blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Klose left the band, leaving Pink Floyd as a quartet. Barrett started writing his own material, influenced by both British and American psychedelic music, but incorporating his own whimsical humor. Pink Floyd became a favorite in the underground movement, and in October 1966, they formed a six-way partnership with managers Peter Jenner and Andrew King. This led to a contract with EMI and the release of their first single, “Arnold Layne”, in March 1967. “Arnold Layne” reached #20 on the UK singles chart and the follow-up, “See Emily Play”, reached #6. This led to their first full-length LP, “The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn”, released in August 1967. It was a commercial hit in the U.K., reaching #6 on the album charts, and was a critical success as well, with many critics recognizing it is a prime example of British psychedelia, second perhaps only to The Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. While the band was still working on a second LP, they released a third single, “Apples and Oranges” b/w “Paint Box”, in November 1967. This is today’s featured single.
The A-side, “Apples and Oranges”, was written by Syd Barrett and provides a prime example of Barrett’s pop psychedelia at its finest. It opens with a slightly distorted guitar, augmented by a wah-wah pedal. Soon we are introduced to Barrett’s vivid lyrical imagery: “Got a flip-top pack of cigarettes in her pocket/Feeling good at the top/Shopping in sharp shoes/Walking in the sunshine town feeling very cool/But the butchers and the bakers in the supermarket stores/Getting everything she wants from the supermarket stores”. And then we find out about a girl that Barrett saw walking around town in Richmond. The chord arrangement is relatively simple, relying heavily on G, which is probably the most oft-repeated chord here. The song fades out with a music box-like melody repeated, giving way to a wail of guitar feedback. Although “Apples and Oranges” failed to make the charts in either the U.K. or U.S. (in the latter country, it was released on Capitol subsidiary Tower Records), it is a memorable piece of psychedelic whimsy. Although the song was initially not intended for inclusion on an album (its first appearance on an album was on the compilation LP “The Best of Pink Floyd/Masters of Rock”, released in 1970), both tracks on the single were mixed in stereo, although the single was released in mono (the “Masters of Rock” LP represented the first appearance of the stereo version).
The B-side of this single, “Paint Box”, was written by Richard Wright, and the song features a minor key melody that prominently features E minor ninth and E added ninth chords. The song is played in the key of G and has a more complex chord arrangement that “Apples and Oranges”. The song is notable for its anti-social lyrics (also sung by Richard Wright): “Last night I had too much to drink/Sitting in a club with so many fools/Playing to rules/Trying to impress/But feeling rather empty/I had another drink”. The song also features some rather extended drum fills from Nick Mason. As the lyrics end, a piano solo begins, which lasts through the song’s fade-out. Listening to the song, this music listener is a little disappointed that Wright didn’t compose more songs, either for the Pink Floyd canon or as a solo artist. Still, “Paint Box” is a testimony to his capabilities in crafting rather ponderous music. This song can also be found on the “Masters of Rock” LP, as well as the “Relics” (1971) compilation of early Pink Floyd material.
The single (catalog #: DB 8310) was issued on November 18, 1967; it

was issued with a picture sleeve (shown above). This was the last single released during Syd Barrett’s tenure with the band. But the stress of life on the road, pressure to write new singles, and almost constant use of LSD began to take their toll on Syd Barrett, who became unpredictable both during concerts, where he would often strum the same chord over and over or simply stare into space, and during rehearsals. Since Barrett wrote most of the bands material, his breakdown could have been the end of the band, but the other band members decided to bring in David Gilmour to take Barrett’s place during concerts, with the hope that Barrett would continue to write for the band. When it became apparent that Barrett was unable to continue even in this capacity, his departure from the band was finalized, and the six-way partnership was dissolved. This left Pink Floyd without the support of Jenner and King, who decided to manage Barrett’s solo career, but determined to forge ahead with Gilmour. Their next single, “It Would Be So Nice”, released in March 1968, featured David Gilmour on guitar in place of Barrett. What followed was a gradual shedding of the band’s psychedelic sound as the band became more polished and collaborative. By the time “Meddle” (1971), their fifth album was released, they had evolved into a progressive rock band. Their seventh studio album was their massive U.S. breakthrough “Dark Side Of The Moon” (1973), which was their first U.S. #1 LP, and would remain on the U.S. Billboard album chart until 1988, establishing a world record. The album was the beginning of the band’s salad days, which would culminate in the release of “The Wall” (1979). The recording sessions for this album saw acrimony between band members – especially between Waters and Wright – reaching a new high, and Wright quit during the recording of “The Wall”. Nevertheless, he was employed for “The Wall” tour as a paid musician (and in fact was reportedly the only band member to profit from the venture, which lost about $600,000). The next album, “The Final Cut” (1983), was recorded by the trio of Waters, Gilmour and Mason, with the assistance of studio musicians; the album, which received mixed reviews, was viewed by some critics as essentially a Waters solo album. There was no supporting tour and in the aftermath of its release, Waters and Gilmour had a falling out, with both musicians working on solo albums: Gilmour released “About Face” (1984) and Waters released “The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking” (1984). Amid an ongoing dispute between Gilmour and Waters over legal ownership of the Pink Floyd name, the next Floyd album was released, “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” (1987), with Gilmour and Mason the only official members of the band (Richard Wright was employed as a paid musician for the album, but his contributions were minimal). Wright’s contributions were more substantial, however, on “The Division Bell” (1994) were more substantial. “The Division Bell” remains the band’s last studio album, although the live double CD “Pulse” was released the following year. In spite of the acrimony between band members, the “classic” lineup of Waters, Gilmour, Wright and Mason reunited for Live 8 in 2005. Richard Wright died of cancer in September 2008.

The dBs were the brainchild of Chris Stamey, who played bass with Alex Chilton (the Box Tops, Big Star) in 1977. After the breakup of the the Sneakers, a band Stamey co-founded with Mitch Easter, Stamey (guitar, vocals, keyboards) recruited former Sneaker members Gene Holder (bass) and Will Rigby (drums) for the dBs. They released their debut single, “(I Thought) You Wanted to Know” b/w “If and When”, credited to “Chris Starney and the dBs”. This is today’s featured single.
“(I Thought) You Wanted to Know” starts with a drum beat, followed by a catchy riff, joined by Stamey’s vocals about 20 seconds into the track: “I want to know what it is that we’re looking for/You say to me in a voice that’s both soft and sore/I’ve got the key, it’s just that I don’t think anymore/I am in the air, I don’t have a care”. Stamey evokes comparisons to Chris Bell here (while the bouncy melody, in this listener’s opinion, evokes comparisons to contemporaries such as The Rubinoos), and this song is a solid slab of power pop, a worthy addition to any collection of 1970s pop. This song was written by Richard Lloyd of Television; the dBs thus provide a link not only between the power pop/jangle pop bands of the 1970s and those of 1980s, but also between the latter and the 1970s punk movement. From the opening to the soaring, ethereal fade-out 3 minutes and 16 seconds later, this is one of the more memorable debut singles of this era.
The B-side, “If and When”, has more of a garage-rock feel to it, with a gritty-sounding guitar pounding out a catchy melody punctuated by Rigby’s solid drumming. The lyrics are as abstract as they are on the A-side, if somewhat more vexing: “If and when you come/I will see you there/I submerge your face/Blood all in your hair/I’ll be true and I won’t know/If and when you come/I’ll go slow”. We get a very cool-sounding guitar solo (albeit brief) 1 minute and 11 seconds into the track, followed by one last verse, and the song closes with Stamey’s vocals reaching a fever pitch with the lyric “I’ll be hot” (for the most part, Stamey would abandon his yelp in later releases) repeated several times preceding a wail of guitar feedback that brings the track to a screeching halt. One has to assume that the fact that the band chose two very different songs for this single has some significance, and the dBs show an amazing degree of range and depth that belies their status as a newly-formed band.

This single (catalog #: CRR 7) was released on Stamey’s Car Records imprint, a short-lived label that nonetheless released a few interesting records, including Chris Bell’s only solo single, “I Am the Cosmos”, and a Peter Holsapple maxi-single. There was a picture sleeve (shown above). In October 1978, Peter Holsapple (guitar, vocals) joined the band. The dBs were unable to secure a deal with an American label, so they signed with U.K.-based Albion Records, who released their debut album, “Stands for Decibels” (1981). The album received critical acclaim but achieved negligible sales. Their second album, “Repercussion” (1982), built on the strengths of the first and contained such singles as “Judy”. Stamey left the band after the second album and pursued a career as a solo artist and producer. The band finally landed a deal with an American label (Bearsville Records), but the release of their third album, “Like This” (1984) was delayed due to distribution woes. Rick Wagner, who played keyboards on “Like This”, joined the band on bass, and Gene Holder took over lead guitar duties. Peter Holsapple became the lead singer. After Bearsville Records went out of business, the band signed with I.R.S. Records, who released their next album, “The Sound of Music” (1987), on which Jeff Beninato played bass. The band subsequently broke up, although two CDs were released posthumously: “Ride the Wild Tom-Tom” (1993), consisting of early demos, recordings and singles, and “Paris Avenue” (1994), which consists of demos recorded in the band’s waning days. The band reunited in 2005, and began work on a new album. They recorded a version of “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” to benefit the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. They played two shows in Chicago and two shows in Hoboken, New Jersey that year. In early 2007 they played at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City and at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina. Work on the new album continues as time permits.

The Misfits were formed in January 1977 when Glenn Danzig, who had been in several garage bands such as Talus and Whodat and Boojang, decided to form his own band. For weeks he wrote songs and played with friends and old bandmates, trying to find a suitable lineup for the new band. The first Misfits lineup consisted of Danzig (electric piano, vocals), Jimmy Battle (guitar), Diane DiPiazza (bass guitar), and Manny Martinez (drums). After only about a month of practicing, Battle and DiPiazza left the band, and Martinez suggested his friend, Jerry Caiafa (a.k.a. Jerry Only) as the new bass player. Although Caiafa had only been playing bass for two months, he was added to the lineup, and the trio entered the studios to record their first single: “Cough/Cool” b/w “She”. This is today’s featured single.
“Cough/Cool”, true to punk form, runs only 2 minutes and 14 seconds, and starts off with Danzig playing a monotonous-sounding one-note melody on his electric organ (apparently connected to a fuzz box), joined a few seconds later by Manny Martinez’s drums. Although the track could have benefited from better production, The Misfits deliver a raw yet powerful performance here. The lyrics are barely decipherable, but Danzig’s tuneful bellow still penetrates the rather muddy-sounding mix. The dystopian lyrics seemingly describe a city suffering a disease epidemic, and were undoubtedly inspired by horror movies: “Cover your face when you walk by/Drench your visions in darkness”. The electric organ dominates the sound mix, while Jerry Only noodles around on his bass guitar. And then there is the chorus: “Spit up blood when you cough/Cool, cool, cool/Cough, cool, cool, cool”. There is an interesting-sounding keyboard solo towards the end, before the song comes to an abrupt end. Although the musical accompaniment is spare (there is no lead guitar on the track), The Misfits nonetheless get a lot of mileage from Danzig’s electric piano and Manny’s drum-playing. Listening to the track, one begins to understand the band’s initial appeal, if not the renewed interest that has developed in the 1990’s and beyond (an interest that prompted Jerry Only to form a new Misfits lineup in an attempt to cash in on the band’s cult status).
“She” is an even shorter track (1 minute and 22 seconds), and moves along at a fast pace, making it seem even shorter. This time, Jerry Only’s bass dominates the sludgy sound mix (although Danzig’s electric piano is also quite audible), and the melody is not something that seems hard to play: a grand total of 3 chords are used (A, G, and FF), as The Misfits play a simple-yet-catchy tune. The song reminds me of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” in the way in which the melody and the lyrics move along quickly, as if the musicians are constipated. [In fact, before forming The Misfits, Glenn Danzig sang in bands where, according to him, he sang “mostly Black Sabbath songs”, so the idea that “She” was inspired by Black Sabbath doesn’t seem all that farfetched.] The lyrical content is about a woman (the “She” of the song title) that seems to be skirting the line between virtue and vice, with lines like these: “She walked out with empty arms/Machine gun in her hand/She is good and she is bad/No one understands”. And this: “She was virgin vixen/She is on the run”. In fact, the seemingly oxymoronic phrase “virgin vixen” can be seen as a sign that even at this early stage, Glenn Danzig had a lyrical flair which was in evidence more fully during his work as a solo artist. The Misfits pack quite a sonic assault into this brief song, and in spite of the low production values, “She” is a great punk song.
The single (catalog #: 101) was issued on the band’s own Blank Records in August 1977 (it was recorded in June 1977). The single was recorded at the Rainbow Studio and mastered at Spectrum Sound in Brooklyn, New York by Rich Flores. Only 500 copies of the original single were made, and copies of this single are said to fetch about $2,000 on eBay. The image shown here is of the picture sleeve of the reissue of the single. The original release apparently had a picture sleeve as well, although I’m not sure if it was the same picture sleeve used for the reissue. This is also the only Misfits release on which Jerry Only is credited under his original name, Jerry Caiafa. After his name was misspelled on the liner notes of this single, he adopted the stage name Jerry Only. The band would undergo many personnel changes over the next six years, eventually adding a guitarist (Franche Coma, who would be the first of several guitarists), and replacing Manny Martinez with a succession of different drummers. Danzig and Jerry Only would be the only constants during this period, and the band broke up after playing a final concert in Detroit, Michigan on October 29, 1983. In 1995, Only reformed The Misfits without Danzig (after reaching a legal settlement with Danzig that allowed Only to use The Misfits’ name and images, but splitting merchandising rights between Only and Danzig), this version of the band has also seen several personnel changes, with Jerry Only remaining as the one constant through the revival era.

Long before The Cars had formed, Rik Ocasek (rhythm and lead guitar) and Benjamin Orr (bass guitar) met at a party in Columbus, Ohio and began performing as a duo, covering rock and roll classics. After deciding that Boston would be a better place to break into the music business, Ocasek and Orr relocated there. There they met keyboardist Greg Hawkes, who had studied music at the Berklee School of Music, and the three, along with lead guitarist Jas Goodkind, combined to form the folk band Milkwood. They released an album called “How’s the Weather” (1973) on the Paramount label. The album failed to chart. After Milkwood, Ocasek and Orr formed Richard and the Rabbits with drummer Thomas Tapley (the name was suggested by Jonathan Richman). Hawkes joined Orphan, a soft rock band, and Martin Mull and His Fabulous Furniture, a musical comedy act fronted by Martin Mull. Ocasek and Orr eventually performed as an acoustic duo called Ocasek and Orr, and performed at the Idler coffeehouse in Cambridge. Eventually, Ocasek and Orr teamed up with guitarist Elliot Easton (who also studied at Berklee) and formed the band Cap’n Swing. This band also featured Kevin Robichaud on drums and a jazzy bass player, which clashed with Ocasek’s more rock and roll leanings. Eventually Ocasek got rid of the bass player, the keyboardist and the drummer. Robichaud was replaced by David Robinson, whose main claim to fame up to that point was as the bass player for Jonathan Richman. Hawkes joined the band, and Robinson suggested a new name for Cap’n Swing: The Cars. The band spent the winter of 1976-1977 playing throughout New England, developing and honing the songs that would comprise their debut album. Local station WBCN started playing the demo of “Just What I Needed”; this led to a contract with Elektra Records. “Just What I Needed” b/w “I’m In Touch with Your World” was released as the lead single from their self-titled debut album. This is today’s featured single.
In “Just What I Needed”, The Cars recorded a song that captured their blend of garage rock energy and new wave finesse in a perfect mixture. Rik Ocasek’s deadpan vocal delivery seems ideal for the lyrics, which is an interesting play on the traditional love song: “I don’t mind you coming here/Wasting all my time/’Cause when you’re standing oh so near/I kinda lose my mind”. The protagonist’s attitude seems to cross over from indifference to a more menacing attitude with the chorus: “I guess you’re just what I needed/I needed someone to bleed”. Bassist Orr also lays down an appropriately restrained backing vocal during the chorus. The musical accompaniment complements the lyrics well; the interaction between Easton’s guitar and Hawkes’ cool, almost hypnotic synthesizer melody is great, and about 1 minute and 48 seconds into the track, we even get a brief Easton guitar solo. Ocasek’s vocal delivery becomes more insistent towards the end, and the music builds to an appropriate crescendo before ending. Producer Roy Thomas Baker made a crystal-clear, radio-friendly recording, and as a result, “Just What I Needed” got considerable radio airplay, helping the song become a Top 30 hit; it is still a staple on classic rock stations throughout the United States.

The B-side of this single, “I’m In Touch With Your World”, is a much more restrained, low-key song with nonsensical lyrics: “You can tuck it on the inside/You can throw it on the floor/You can wave it on the outside/Like you never did before”. Unlike the previous track, in which the duel between Easton’s guitar and Hawkes’ synthesizer were key to the musical content, on this track, Easton guitar seems much more fey, save for a brief period during the chorus. Hawkes’ synthesizer punches through the musical landscape on occasion, giving the song an appropriately otherworldly sound. While “I’m In Touch With Your World” lacks the pop-like sheen of “Just What I Needed”, it nonetheless showcases The Cars’ ability to craft clever, memorable songs.
This single (catalog #: E-45491) was released on May 29, 1978. It was issued with a picture sleeve (the picture on the cover was identical to the cover of the debut album, with the name of the band and the track listing across the top. It was also issued, with the same catalog number, on colored vinyl. The success of this single would prove to be only the beginning for The Cars, who eventually would go on to become the most successful new wave band. The first album peaked at #18 and remained on the Billboard album chart for 139 weeks, spawning two more charting singles. The second album, “Candy-O” (1979) was also successful, spawning such hits as “Let’s Go”. The third album, the more experimental “Panorama” (1980), was not as successful, producing only one Top 40 single (“Touch and Go”), but it nonetheless went platinum. The next album, “Shake It Up” (1981), was seen as a return to form; the title track became a Top 10 hit, and another song from the album, “Since You’re Gone” was also a hit. The band took a break for solo projects, but re-emerged a few years later with “Heartbeat City” (1984). The first single off the album, “You Might Think”, was a major hit and also boasted a groundbreaking video. Other hits from the album included “Magic”, “Hello Again”, and “Why Can’t I Have You”. Their next album was “Greatest Hits” (1985), which contained one new track, “Tonight She Comes”, which was released as a single and reached the Top 10. Their next studio album, “Door to Door”, contained the Top 20 hit “You Are the Girl”, but the album failed to approach the success of previous albums, and in February 1988, The Cars announced their breakup. Benjamin Orr died in October 2000 from pancreatic cancer, but the surviving members of The Cars placed a photo of themselves together at a Boston studio on their Facebook page, suggesting the possibility of a band reunion.

Many people have heard of the late great King Floyd, and most of those people remember his Top 10 hit from 1970, “Groove Me”. But how many people know that “Groove Me” was actually the B-side of his first Chimneyville Records single, “What Our Love Needs”? And that single is today’s featured single: “What Our Love Needs” b/w “Groove Me”.
King Floyd was born in 1945 and began performing in public at the Sho-Bar as a singer as early as 1961, but his fledgling music career was soon put on hold by a stint in the military. Following his discharge from the army in late 1963, he migrated to New York City, performing for about a year before moving to California. Through composer/arranger Harold Battiste, he met DJ Buddy Keleen, who in turn brought him to the Original Sound label, which issued his first single in 1965. This was followed by the Battiste-arranged album “King Floyd: A Man In Love”, issued by the Mercury subsidiary Pulsar in 1967, and featuring songs co-written by Dr. John. The album failed to make an impact, and King Floyd returned to New Orleans in 1969 to work for the post office.
In 1970, Wardell Quezergue, a composer of R&B scores, persuaded Floyd to record a single for Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi. “What Our Love Needs” was issued on Malaco’s Chimneyville subsidiary, with “Groove Me” on the flipside. The single did not start to take off, however, until a George Vinnett, a New Orleans DJ, flipped over the record and started to play “Groove Me”. The record became a local smash, and Atlantic Records scooped up national distribution rights; eventually the song reached #6 on the Billboard singles chart. King Floyd quit his post office gig and embarked on a national tour. The follow-up to “Groove Me”, “Got To Have Your Love” (taken from Floyd’s self-titled Atlantic album) also reached the Top 10.
“What Our Love Needs” has a laid-back funkiness to it that one would expect from a mainstream soul track circa 1970. For a pop record released by a relatively small record label, it has a pretty full sound; it starts off with drums and a lightly strummed lead guitar; there’s horns and a flute on the track, as well as a string section, the drum track and bass guitar give the song a sense of meter without overpowering the rest of the music. The lyrics, in which the protagonist argues the case to his significant other that they shouldn’t fight so much (“Our love needs more kissing/And not so much hitting”) are delivered with a tender-laden reverence. Some of the analogies are a bit corny (“‘Cause when two people are in love/They stick together like a hand inside a glove”), but Floyd sounds so sincere that it’s pretty easy to forgive him.
There’s no question that “What Our Love Needs” is a good song, but it’s easy to see how the quirky playfulness of “Groove Me” won in the court of public opinion. Artists often took more chances on the B-sides of singles, being bolder and more experimental, and arguably, that is the case here. In some ways, the sound is similar to “What Our Love Needs”: we still get the lightly-strummed guitar, the solid but not overpowering drums, and of course the horns, but from the opening seconds of the song, when Floyd greets us with a “Uh! Awww! Sookie, Sookie now”, we get the idea that this song is a little different. Supposedly, Floyd’s original inspiration came from a love letter he wrote to a college girl who was a co-worker at a box factory he was working at in California; the girl quit and he never delivered the letter. In 1970, Floyd re-worked the words in the letter into funky, percolating jam. And there are some great lines here, too: “You’ve become a sweet taste in my mouth, now/And I want you to be my spouse/So that we can live happily, nah-nah,/In a great big ol’ roomy house”. The song has almost a proto-reggae sound to it, although Floyd’s sound might more accurately be described as southern soul. The horns punctuate the sound more noticeably that on the A-side, and they are the real difference-maker here.
The single (catalog #: Chimneyville 435) was issued nationally on the Chimneyville label; the top half of the label looked like a brick wall and the lower half was orange. When Atlantic picked up the national distribution rights, they added (“Distributed by Cotillion Div. of Atlantic Recording Corp.”) to the bottom edge. However, the single was later re-issued as part of Atlantic Records’ Oldies Series (Atlantic OS-13104), with a green Atlantic label (it looked similar to the classic red Atlantic label with the Atlantic logo across the top, only it was a lime-green label).

This blog has been overdue for a Kinks entry for awhile now, so I might as well do one today. As anyone who has followed the Kinks’ storied history knows, The Kinks have gone through several distinct phases, both commercially and artistically. First, there was the Era Of Initial Success (1964-66): The Kinks, starting with “You Really Got Me”, (and ending with “Sunny Afternoon”) had several hits in the U.S. Then there was what I call the Era Of Limited Commercial Success (1967-69): The Kinks failed to score a U.S. Top 40 hit, but they release a series of critically acclaimed concept albums. There was a brief “revival” period in the early 1970’s, when The Kinks, buoyed by the commercial success of “Lola” (peak U.S. chart position: #9) and “Celluloid Heroes” (U.K. Top 20), saw their commercial fortunes restored, but once they signed with RCA Records in 1973, they seemed to be doomed to once again releasing low-selling concept albums.

The band’s move to Arista Records in 1976 seemed to be a turning point. “Low Budget” (1979) was their third album for Arista and eventually became their best-selling album in the U.S. By now, the band lineup had changed somewhat from what it had been in the 1960’s. Ray Davies (lead vocals, guitars), Dave Davies (vocals, lead guitar), and Mick Avory (drums) remained from the original lineup (together, they constituted three-fourths of the original lineup), but in addition, Jim Rodford (bass guitar) and Ian Gibbons (keyboards) joined the band; both would remain until 1984, when the departure of Mick Avory helped signal the end of The Kinks’ salad days. It was not a concept album in the sense of being a rock opera, but most of the songs seem to be thematically linked, and the theme is that hard times have befallen us. Both sides of today’s featured single, “A Gallon of Gas” b/w “Low Budget” are related to this theme.

“A Gallon of Gas”, along with “Catch Me Now I’m Falling”, are the two tracks from the album that deal with the album’s subplot: hard times for America in the global economy, and the nation’s corresponding loss of prestige. The song is a simple blues melody; the keyboards are muted for this track, with the song driven primarily by the Davies brothers guitars, complemented well by Rodford and Avory. The lyrics – about a man who has bought a brand new Cadillac, but who can’t afford gas for it – puts a humorous spin on the gas crisis of the late 1970’s: “I went to my local dealer to see if he could set me straight/He said there’s a little gas going but I’d have to wait/But he offered some red hot speed and some really high grade hash/But a gallon of gas can’t be purchased anywhere for any amount of cash”. The song sounds a bit dated, but from a lyrical standpoint, it sounds as if it could have been written more recently. And here’s an extra verse, from the long version: “I love your body work, but you’re really no use/How can I drive you when I got no juice?/Because it’s stuck in neutral and my engine’s got no speed/And the highways are deserted and the air smells unnaturally clean”. As the liner notes for the CD point out, given the fact that Ray Davies dissected the carcass of British imperialism and class structure so viciously on such albums as “Arthur” and the “Preservation” albums, this is a surprisingly lighthearted (and perhaps even sympathetic) look at the Carter era United States.

The B-side, “Low Budget”, is such a good song that when I started researching this entry, I thought that “Low Budget” was the A-side and “A Gallon of Gas” was the B-side. Only when I checked a Kinks discography did I discover that it was the other way around. “Low Budget” starts with with a simple, mid-tempo Dave Davies melody; although some of the tracks on the album feature keyboards more prominently, that is not the case with this song. According to Dave Davies (in the liner notes of the “Low Budget” CD), the title track was recorded on the second take, with live drums and live guitars, and the song does have a “live in studio” feel to it, in keeping with the back-to-basics attitude of the album. The rhythm section of Rodford and Avory makes a difference here, giving the song a solid, punchy rock beat. And as Ray Davies noted, “I really got it to be a good dance record on the re-mix”; he felt it passed the test when he heard it in a Stockholm disco and “it knocked the balls off everything else.” Although the lyrics are about someone who has fallen on hard times, the plight of this man is described humorously: “Even my trousers are giving me pain/They were reduced in a sale so I shouldn’t complain/They squeeze so tight so I can’t take no more/They’re size 28 but I take 34”. And check out this extra lyric, cut from the final version of the song: “Quality costs, but quality wastes/So I’m giving up all of my expensive tastes/Caviar and champagne are definite no’s/I’m acquiring a taste for brown ale and cod roes”. This single did not chart in the U.S., but “Low Budget” became a staple of AOR stations for many years, and the song would become a staple of The Kinks’ live show. Unlike many of The Kinks’ singles from this era (which included picture sleeves), “A Gallon of Gas” was issued with a standard paper sleeve and the label has the standard Arista logo from the late 1970’s.