MARIANNE FAITHFUL - This Little Bird / Morning Sun - London - 1965

Marianne's marriage to Mick Jagger seems to overshadow the fact that she released a few wonderful records in the mid 60's. It's a bit of a shame.

Here's a great single; a personal favorite. Two sad, beautiful songs by a woman very much the same. Marianne was kind of a mess for a while there, huh?

Separately, but related, Marianne is responsible for one of the few Beatles covers that sounds better than the original. The song is "I'm A Loser" and was released on her 1965 self titled LP.

(This is a re-post with files added.)

Marianne Faithful - This Little Bird


Marianne Faithful - Morning Sun

THE CHIFFONS - Nobody Knows What's Goin' On (In My Mind But Me) / The Real Thing - Laurie-3301 - 1965

This is certainly one of my favorite 45's that I own. Both sides are right on.

'Nobody Knows' was written, and possibly produced, by Brute Force, the genius behind 'What A Lonely Way To Start The Summertime' by The Bitter Sweets. Again, he created a very catchy, girl group friendly song with darker overtones and amazing, vaguely psychedelic, wall-of-sound-esque production. The combination of girl groups with heavy reverb seems to be largely fail-proof.

'The Real Thing' is another great song, this one is a lot more soul based than the top side. Just about perfect songwriting here. Be warned: this one will stay with you for a bit.

There's a later press of this record that includes 'Did You Ever Go Steady' instead of 'The Real Thing.' This, the first pressing, is the one to find (especially since 'Did You Ever Go Steady' was also included as the B-side to their later single 'Sweet Talkin' Guy.')

Incredibly, I found this one in a 33 cent bin...

The Chiffons - Nobody Knows What's Goin' On (In My Mind But Me)


The Chiffons - The Real Thing

COUNT FIVE - Peace Of Mind / The Morning After - Double Shot 106 - 1966

This is Count Five's chart-flopping followup to Psychotic Reaction. Honestly, it's not nearly as good, but it's an interesting single, in a way.

Peace of Mind isn't the best song ever, but it's got some really good psych freakout-ish instrumental breaks which are clearly the highlight of this record. The only bits of this song that I don't like much are the verses. Vocally, this track is pretty lackluster.

The Morning After, as a whole, is a pretty misguided, pointless song. The only thing of remote interest on this track is so burired in the mix that you really have to be listening for it to catch it. During the instrumental breaks there are some funny little psych noise effects that I like. Too bad they're barely audible..

Both of these tracks were included on the Psychotic Reaction LP.

Count Five - Peace Of Mind


Count Five - The Morning After

New Format Disclaimer:

I've decided to start including mp3's with all of my posts now. These will be direct recordings from the vinyl, and I won't do any post-production on them. That means that if there's some background noise on my record, that's what you get. Don't complain. Also, I may only post one side if I don't feel the flip side is worth the time/space/bandwidth.

At the moment I have my divshare account set with downloads enabled, but that may very well change. I really hate the idea of serial downloading, so if that seems to be happening I'll change it to streaming only. I'm not here to bulk up anyone's silly mp3 collection.

That being said, I think this format will do much better justice to the music, as I'm sure my opinion, and general lack of writing skills, typically leaves a lot to be desired.

PsychedelicElvis

KOKO TAYLOR - Fire / Insane Asylum - Checker-1191 - 1968

Both sides of this single were written by Willie Dixon, he is featured on both tracks (more prominently on Insane Asylum,) and they are both unbelievably good.

At the time that I bought this this single Insane Asylum was the only Koko song I was familiar with, so I knew she was a very powerful soul singer, but it didn't prepare me for the flip side. Fire is a real mover, and Koko is belting it out like you wouldn't believe. This is heavy, commanding soul music.

This 45 wasn't the easiest thing to find but was well worth it in the end. Enjoy.

Koko Taylor - Fire


Koko Taylor - Insane Asylum

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL - Lookin' Out My Back Door / Long As I Can See The Light - Fantasy - 1970

I feel a little funny liking Creedence as much as I do. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because my mother refers to them as 'Creedence Clearwater Survival' and that bugs the shit out of me. I correct her every single time, hoping she'll get it right eventually so I can enjoy their music without THAT in my head, but it's useless. They are, and forever will be, Creedence Clearwater Survival to her.

Ironically, my mother is the reason why I own this particular copy of this single. She spotted it at a garage sale, or auction, or something, I'm not sure, I'm not a very good listener, and brought it home for me. She's pretty cool, quirks and all.

This record's pretty cool too. "Lookin' Out My Back Door" is one the best songs CCR ever released. John Fogerty was spot on with his production, as usual, and the song writing is all aces. The hooks and leads are precise and never overdone, and the lyrics are probably Fogerty's crowning achievement. John gets home from tour, gets loose on some brain drugs and starts seeing all sorts of craziness out his back door. Shit, get me a flying spoon, I wanna take that ride.

The B-side, "Long As I Can See The Light" has all the qualities to add up to a HORRIBLE song. Let's count: John is trying his best to get super soulful, there's possibly the worst sounding keyboard I've ever heard, and worst of all, the goddamn SAX SOLO (fuck off, Fogerty.) When all is said and done though, it comes off, definately not 'good,' but at least somehow endearing. (Not sure how.) Dudes that loves Bob Seger and His Silver Bullshit Band like this song. Mechanics and plumbers and electricians will all dance to this song at their weddings. It's THAT bad, but I can still appreciate some unnameable quality of it for whatever reason. Maybe it just means I can look foward to a life of plumbing, who knows? (Shit, I hope not.)

Regardless, this single is cool. So is the majority of CCR's output (until the very end.) I don't know why so many people hate them. Maybe it's their rural appeal. Oh well. I'm not the one missing out.

The Dude agrees. (And, of course, The Dude abides.)

PsychedelicElvis

THE KNOCKOUTS - Darling Lorraine / Riot in Room 3C - Shad - 1959

There was a band called the Knockouts that played in or around Dunkirk, NY in the mid to late 90's. They sounded like the Ramones covering Dion and the Belmonts and had a hit single (as far as I was concerned) called "I'm In Love With A Tenth Grader." To boot, they were pretty cool guys.

This is NOT a record by that band.

The top side of this record is cute. It's a lot like 'Earth Angel' but replace the Penguin's sugary vocals with something a bit more rockabilly influenced. All the sentiment is still there, just a bit rougher around the edges. Apparently this song slipped through the cracks and never really charted, though it was the closest the Knockouts ever got to a hit.

I actually bought this record because of the promising title on the flip side, though it doesn't quite live up to expectations. This is an instrumental song that sounds strangely similar to 'Rebel Rouser' by Duane Eddy. The intro "There's a riot goin on in room 3C" is pretty funny though. I'm planning an instro podcast here, it'll likely show up on that.

Alright.

PsychedelicElvis