Fiend's 45s Vol. 2

I would put together more of these 45 comps if they weren't such time-consuming projects. The positive feedback that I received for this series' first installation was somewhat surprising because, as explained in the post for Vol. 1, my stash of singles is considerably smaller than my LP collection. While I possess a few 45s that I particularly prize, none of them are truly mind-blowingly rare, in contrast to some of the seven-inch mega-obscurities owned by fellow vinyl junkie friends who work the local bar disc jockey circuit. Anyway, here are 25 choice cuts that collectively make up Fiend's 45s Vol. 2. There is no unifying theme; these are simply songs that I like. You'll find hits from the 1960s and 1970s alongside material that has probably never received so much as a moment of radio airplay. Even in instances where titles will be familiar to most readers, these songs are for the most part presented in their mono single mixes, which often differ from their stereo album counterparts. Hopefully, this collection will offer a little something for everybody.

CLICK IMAGES OF 45 LABELS TO ENLARGE

1. H.P. Lovecraft - The White Ship (single edit) (Phillips, 1967)

Arguably the most legitimately psychedelic group to come out of Chicago during the 1960s, H.P. Lovecraft released two LPs containing performances that ranged from pretty good to great. The diversity of their personnel helped provide the band with a solid foundation of influences ranging from folk to classical to straightforward rock. This background resulted in H.P. Lovecraft being a much more interesting and sophisticated group than other acts associated with Dunwich Productions, such as the one-dimensional Shadows of Knight and the American Breed. "The White Ship," with its distinctive baroque keyboards, was the closest thing that the outfit with a horror writer-derived name had to a hit and is presented here in its truncated plug-side version.

2. Charlie Daniels - Uneasy Rider* (Kama Sutra, 1973)

It's hard to believe that this acoustic, novelty country number done "talking blues"-style is by the same guy who did "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," mostly on account of its pro-counterculture sentiments. Charlie Daniels takes pride in the reactionary redneck image that currently defines him, and most of his post-1975 work holds no interest for me whatsoever. Nevertheless, his lesser-known recordings from earlier in the decade have a number of pleasant surprises for the uninitiated. "Uneasy Rider" was a deserving #9 pop hit in 1973 and probably the best thing that the cowboy hat-wearing fiddler ever did.

3. The Spike-Drivers - Baby Let Me Tell You How I Lost My Mind (Reprise, 1966)

In a more just world, this mind-expanding folk rock nugget would have been one of 1966's biggest hit records. Obviously, that didn't happen, making the Spike-Drivers one of the most talented but least commercially successful bands of their era, at least in terms of record sales. This is a Canadian pressing of "Baby Let Me Tell You How I Lost My Mind" and is considerably more poppy than the unreleased demo version heard on the first-rate Folkrocking Psychedelia from the Motor City collection. Although lead guitarist Sid Brown disparages this side in his booklet notes for that CD (referring to the group's Reprise 45s as "shit shingles, not hit singles"), I'll have to respectfully disagree with his assessment.

4. Bobbie Gentry - Okolona River Bottom Band (Capitol, 1967)

I've seen picture sleeve versions of this 45 at used record stores all around the country, suggesting that Capitol Records must have thought "Okolona River Bottom Band" was going to be as big of a hit as one of Bobbie Gentry's previous releases, "Ode to Billie Joe," which had peaked at the #1 and #17 positions respectively on the US pop and country charts earlier in 1967. This single, from the Delta Sweete LP, didn't even come close (#54 pop) to replicating that success, but it is still a fine example of the singer's unique country-soul-rock style and features some exquisitely atmospheric, perhaps even psychedelic, production that gives things a uniquely Southern feel.

5. B.B. King - Mashing the Popeye (Kent, 1962)

Even though he's a blues guitarist, some people forget that B.B. King has also recorded a number of excellent instrumentals over the years, especially during his 1950s-early 1960s heyday. Often tucked away as the B-sides to his more famous vocal hits, these performances have never received the attention they deserve in various anthologies of the man's recordings, with the excellent but far-from-complete Spotlight on Lucille being the only item that focuses exclusively on this aspect of his legacy. The sound of "Mashing the Popeye" is big and bold, just as you'd expect from a piece with such an audacious title.

6. Aum - Bye Bye Baby (Fillmore, 1969)

Ever the businessman, Bill Graham was not content just owning some of the country's hippest music venues during the 1960s, he also wanted to have a record company on which many of the performing acts could also release singles and albums. Although some psychedelic connoisseurs turn their noses up at many of the third- and fourth-wave Bay Area groups that he signed to his Fillmore (a CBS subsidiary) and San Francisco (distributed by Atlantic) labels, there was still some good music made in the process. Aum may not have been the Haight's most innovative band, but the driving, somewhat Jefferson Airplane-ish "Bye Bye Baby" ranks as the best track from their solid Resurrection LP and was a logical choice for a single release.

7. The Chambers Brothers - Uptown (Columbia, 1967)

Issued in November 1967, "Uptown" bears distinction for being the first single released from the Chambers Brothers' landmark The Time Has Come LP, about nine months before the considerably more successful "Time Has Come Today" hit the market. Columbia Records must have sensed they had a potential new hit-making act on their hands since this copy is a double-sided "Special Rush Service" white label promo. The company's instincts failed them in this particular instance, as "Uptown" peaked at a disappointing #126 on the US pop charts. The label often took a conservative approach with their artists during the 1960s, thus explaining the preference they gave to this song at the expense of "Time." Not that there is anything wrong with the soul-on-the-cusp-of-funk that characterizes "Uptown," but it probably had too much of an old school R&B flavor for the turned-on young record buyers of late 1967.

8. Jorgen Ingmann - Apache (Atco, 1961)

Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann was not the first person to have success with this classic instrumental (that distinction belongs to British group the Shadows, whose version was waxed in 1960), but, oddly enough, he was the first person to have a hit (#2 pop) with it in the US. As a young record collector, I had always assumed the Ventures had been the first musicians to record it. Ingmann's rendition is a little more polished and restrained, but it still showcases his beautiful guitar tone as well as some advanced-for-their-time sound effects. "Apache" is exhibit A for the great things that can happen when a guitarist isn't afraid to adopt a "less is more" approach to performing.


9. The Nightcrawlers - You're Running Wild (Kapp, 1967)

"You're Running Wild" is the B-side to "The Little Black Egg," a single for Dayton Beach, Florida band the Nightcrawlers that would prove to be rather influential in spite of its seemingly unimpressive #85 peak position on the US pop charts in 1967. Personally, I think the non-hit is the superior of the two songs since it better represents the tough garage band sound that truly defined the group. The snarling vocals and slightly off-kilter guitar work make "You're Running Wild" one of the most effective statements of girl-fueled, white teenage angst ever recorded.

10. Poco - You Better Think Twice (Epic, 1970)

Yeah, I'll admit that Poco can be held partially responsible for two awful things: in particular, the Eagles, and, in general, 1970s soft rock. That said, things did start out on a very promising note for this band, with their first two LPs, Pickin' Up the Pieces and Poco, being logical progressions of Richie Furay and Jim Messina's work with Buffalo Springfield in addition to earning a reputation as two of the most outstanding country rock albums in the history of the genre. "You Better Think Twice" (which made it to #72 on the US pop charts) comes from the latter of those two records and contains the outstanding instrumental work and vocal harmonies that would characterize Poco's earliest and best efforts, which were unfortunately too country for rock audiences and too rock for country audiences of the time.

11. Solomon Burke - Maggie's Farm (Atlantic, 1965)

How many of you knew that this was the first cover of "Maggie's Farm" ever recorded? Or that Solomon Burke was one of the first black singers to wax a Bob Dylan song? I sure didn't, at least not until I did a little research in preparation for this post. Whether this particular Dylan piece was pushed on Solomon Burke or he came up with the idea to record it on his own doesn't really matter since it's such a convincing interpretation. According to various sources, this version not only came out prior to the composer's own single release, it outsold it as well.

12. Friend and Lover - Reach out of the Darkness (Verve Forecast, 1968)

Friend and Lover's "Reach out of the Darkness" is one of those songs that detractors of 1960s music love to hate. Granted, it does feature a number of lyrical and musical cliches unique to the decade in which it was recoded. Nevertheless, with undeniable vocal hooks, an irresistible bass line, and production from Joe South, this #10 pop hit by the erstwhile folk duo of Jim and Cathy Post remains appealing to those who feel no shame in still believing that "it's so groovy now that people are finally getting together."

13. Spirit - Mechanical World (Ode, 1968)

What were the people at Ode Records thinking when they issued the incredibly complex "Mechanical World" as the single from Spirit's debut album? To wit, the song is divided into five or six different sections and clocks in at nearly five minutes, not exactly the sort of thing you would try to market to an audience that is notorious for generally having a short attention span. But it was the 1960s, after all, a time when record labels were still willing to take bigger chances. Randy California's awe-inspiring guitar solos throughout this performance continue to amaze this listener, even nearly 17 years after first hearing them.

14. The Staple Singers - New Orleans (Curtom, 1976)

After the collapse of Stax Records, the Staple Singers found a new home on Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label. It was with this company that they had their last significant hit, the title song for the Let's Do It Again soundtrack. The seriously funky and decidedly non-gospel followup single "New Orleans" also comes from that album, although it failed to produce similar results despite its many virtues. Does anyone know if both Mayfield and Pops Staples are playing guitar on this?

15. Sir Douglas Quintet - The Rains Came (Tribe, 1965)

Although "She's About a Mover" was the Sir Douglas Quintet's big hit from 1965, the less commercially successful "The Rains Came" demonstrates that it wasn't the only worthwhile thing they recorded that year. This cover version of a song originally done by the obscure Big Sambo and the House Wreckers in 1962 contains that same distinctively reedy organ, a catchy chorus, and other hallmarks that would become part of this Doug Sahm-helmed band's winning formula.

16. Mashmakhan - Days When We Are Free* (Epic, 1970)

Remembered, if at all, primarily for their 1970 hit "As the Years Go By," this progressive jazz-influenced Canadian quartet from Montreal apparently got their name from a variety of hash that was popular with the underground scene in their hometown. I wouldn't necessarily go as far as describing "Days When We Are Free" as psychedelic, but "mind-expanding fusion" seems to fit the bill just fine. Although this song appeared as the B-side to Mashmakhan's aforementioned hit, it's the superior performance in my opinion largely because of the first-rate guitar-keyboard interplay supplied by Rayburn Blake and Pierre Senecal.


17. Gene McDaniels - A Hundred Pounds of Clay (Liberty, 1961)

I remember hearing this song a lot on the local oldies radio station back when I was a teenager and thinking that it was a really nice piece of early 1960s orchestrated soul as well as a rather a clever reworking of the Pygmalion myth. Fast forward several years later to the time when I acquired Outlaw and Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse by Eugene McDaniels and finding out that he is the same person as Gene McDaniels. As you can well imagine, it was an extremely enlightening discovery. While those two LPs have received well-earned accolades as extremely deep artistic statements, the comparatively innocent-sounding "Hundred Pounds of Clay," a #3 pop hit, remains the singer's commercial high-water mark.

18. The Beau Brummels - Don't Talk to Strangers (Autumn, 1965)

On the rapturously jangly "Don't Talk to Strangers," the Beau Brummels practically out-Byrds the Byrds with the added bonus of one of Sal Valentio's finest vocal performances. Without question, this is the San Francisco folk rock outfit's most sublime moment, and it deserved a much better fate than the #52 position it earned on the US pop charts. At least our friends up in Canada had the good sense and taste to make it a #16 hit in their country.

19. Charlie Frederick - The Big Pipeline* (Cross Roads, circa 1975)

The most popular country music artists in the 1970s tended to be those who were lumped in with either the countrypolitan or the outlaw movements. On the outside looking in, there were singers who didn't belong to either group and recorded a few singles for small independent labels with little commercial success to show for it. One such performer is West Virginia's Charlie Frederick, whose forte are songs about working folks such as "Twenty-Nine More Men," included on the Works' Many Voices Volume I compilation. Even better is this heartfelt tribute to "the construction workers of the great Alaskan (oil) pipeline," as the inscription reads on the label of this fantastic but little-heard 45.

20. The Majic Ship - On the Edge* (Crazy Horse, 1969)

The orchestrated psych of "On the Edge" sounds considerably different than the more stripped-down material found on Majic Ship's lone LP that was recorded right around the same time. Nevertheless, the song is a great atmospheric performance with a doom-laden vibe and arrangements that become intrusive only when they occasionally overwhelm the song's wicked guitar solos.

21. The Spike-Drivers - High Time (Reprise, 1966)

I'll take my review on track #3 a step further by saying that the backing song "High Time" should have made this 45 a double-sided hit record. Once again, this version sounds a bit more AM radio-friendly than the alternate featured on Folkrocking Psychedelia from the Motor City, but the combination of the group's flawless harmony vocals and Sid Brown's redoubtable fretwork provide yet another example of why 1966 was one of my favorite years in the history of American music.

22. Medicine Head - Rising Sun (Polydor, 1973)

Medicine Head's "Rising Sun" was a sizable 1973 hit (#11) in the UK, and this English-Welsh duo must have been fairly popular in Europe as well. At least that's the conclusion I came to after finding this Yugoslavian-pressed picture sleeve 45 in a Zagreb record store during my visit to Croatia in 2002. As a quintessential piece of the early 1970s British music scene, this song comes off like something that would not have sounded out of place on a T. Rex album from around the same time.

23. The Rooftop Singers - Walk Right In (Vanguard, 1963)

Notable as Vanguard Records' best-selling single of all time, "Walk Right In" achieved massive success on the pop, Easy Listening, country, and even the R&B charts when it was released during the height of the early 1960s folk revival. I'm partial to the original 1929 recording by Cannon's Jug Stompers, but I still cannot deny the appealing nature of this somewhat pasteurized interpretation by the Rooftop Singers. Although Lynne Taylor's vocal contributions are admittedly cloying at times, Erik Darling and Bill Svanoe's resonant 12-string guitars perfectly complement one another, while the restrained snare drum accompaniment presages the forthcoming folk rock revolution that was yet to come.

24. Jimmy Witherspoon - I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water (Reprise, 1962)

Singer-pianist Jimmy Witherspoon is sometimes a little too smooth for my taste in blues artists, but when I'm in the right mood, his best performances go down like 100-year-old bourbon. I can easily picture him as Frank Sinatra's ideal kind of blues singer, possibly accounting for the two albums he recorded for Reprise in the early 1960s. This definitive take on the standard "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water" comes from the Roots LP, on which he is paired with legendary jazz saxophonist Ben Webster to excellent effect.

25. Dion - Abraham, Martin and John (Laurie, 1968)

The same oldies station (WJMK 104.3 FM for all you fellow Chicagoland people out there) mentioned in my write-up for "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" also played this song on a regular basis in the 1980s and early 1990s, which made me a lifelong fan of the folk rock phase of Dion's recording career. As corny as it may sound, I can't help getting a little choked up every time I hear this authoritative version of "Abraham, Martin and John," a testament to the power of DiMucci's unparalleled vocals and John Abbott's elegant arrangements. That it peaked at "only" #4 on the US pop charts seems to be a minor miscarriage of justice if you ask me.

All tracks monaural, except (*) stereo.