Scenes:
Rockument's collection of garage pop masterpieces from San Francisco in the 1960s, by Tony Bove |
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Scenes:
Rockument's collection of garage pop masterpieces from San Francisco in the 1960s, by Tony Bove |
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San Francisco in the early 1960s was a haven for the beatniks who were seeking out the real Beat Generation poets and writers, jazz players and artists. The commercial folk scene was already in full bloom with the Kingston Trio, and local favorite Johnny Mathis was crooning pop ballads.
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The Beau Brummels were the first Top 40 pop group in San Francisco in the 1960s, with a Merseybeat-meets-folk style. This song was a hit in January, 1965, heraling the new sound of the second half of the Sixties. Famous DJ Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue signed this group to his new Autumn Records label, which was instrumental in breaking out new S.F. psychedelic music. DJ "Big Daddy" Tom Donahue and "Mighty Mitch" Bobby Mitchell were Top 40 jocks with an ear for new music. Their Autumn Records label produced the Beau Brummels and others, and they also promoted concerts such as the first Rolling Stones show. The Beau Brummels were their top act in the early days.
The We Five were discovered by the manager of the San Franciso-based folk superstars the Kingston Trio, Frank Werber. They were Univ. of SF folkniks that scored a Top 5 hit with this song, then vanished. However, they inspired Marty Balin to start the Jefferson Airplane with a similar musical and vocal style.
Sounds a bit like the Doors, right? Except they were a few years before the Doors, when Jim Morrison was still in high school. This group started in Miami and travelled to S.F. in 1965, and were signed by "Big Daddy" Tom Donahue for Autumn Records. They were the inspiration for a lot of S.F. bands. They opened for the first Rolling Stones concert in San Francisco, at the Civic Auditorium, and inspired a number of budding psychedelic musicians including the Mystery Trend. The Mojo Men were Jim Alaimo (vocals, bass), Paul Curcio (guitar), Don Metchick (organ), and Dennis DeCarr (drums). This song was produced by a young Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart) for Donahue-Mitchell Productions and released as a single in Feb. 1966 on Autumn Records (on Reprise in June).
The Mystery Trend were directly inspired by the Rolling Stones concert featuring the Mojo Men mentioned above, and were the first group to play the Matrix, S.F.'s first psychedelic music club. The Mystery Trend, formed in 1964, were Ron Nagle (vocals, clavinet), Bob Cuff (guitar, vocals), Larry Bennett (bass), and John Luby (drums, vocals). The Mystery Trend (named after a misinterpretation of the Bob Dylan line, "the mystery tramp", in "Like a Rolling Stone") continued through the Summer of Love but never had a hit. The single appeared on Verve Records in March of 1967. Ron Nagle performed with the Durocs after Mystery Trend broke apart.
Charlatans were the first truly psychedelic band that actually played while on acid. They were directly inspired by the Mystery Trend after seeing them at the Matrix's first show. Codine was to be a Kama Sutra single but was not released due to its drug connotations. Mike Wilhelm sings lead vocals. The Charlatans started their career at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City near Reno in the high Sierras, drawing audiences from their friends in San Francisco (notably the original Family Dog commune, and Kesey's Merry Pranksters). Later that summer they moved back to S.F. and started playing at the Matrix and other newly opened venues, including the Fillmore. The second song, "We're Not on the Same Trip", is a live version of one of the Charlatans' strangest tune, with Dan Hicks on lead vocals. The Charlatans started in 1964 and included Richard Olsen on bass, Mike Wilhelm on guitar and vocals, Dan Hicks on drums and vocals, and Mike Ferguson on keyboards, with George Hunter on style (he created that Wild West Victorian hippie look). Dan Hicks went on to form Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks. Ferguson was one of the first to open a "head shop" in the Haight-Ashbury, called "The Magic Theatre for Madmen Only" (from Herman Hesse's Steppenwolf). Hunter was one of the first Haight-Ashbury poster artists, along with Family Dog member Alton Kelley. The Charlatans musical style could be described as early wild-west-Victorian-hippie rock, and was appreciated and even partially copied by many S.F. bands that came later, including the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Country Joe and the Fish.
The original lineup for the Jefferson Airplane was Marty Balin (vocals), Paul Kantner (guitar), Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar), Jack Casady (bass), and Skip Spence (drums), with Signe Toly Anderson (female vocalist) -- very similar in makeup as the We Five. Skip Spence left in the middle of the second album (after writing "My Best Friend"), to be replaced by Spencer Dryden, and Signe left after the first album, to be replaced by Grace Slick of the Great Society. This song was recorded between Dec. 1965 and March 1966 in Hollywood at RCA Studios. Check out this Jefferson Airplane fan site.
The first, "The Only Time is Now", is one of several unreleased demos by the Emergency Crew before they renamed themselves to the Grateful Dead, with Phil Lesh on vocals. Note the folk-rock sound and the lack of a lead guitar -- Jerry Garcia was still playing folk-style chords like the Byrds.
The Grateful Dead (still called the Warlocks) stretch out a bit with "Don't Ease Me In", their first studio recording as "The Grateful Dead". It saw very limited distribution and the group remained virtually unknown outside of the Bay Area. It was the Grateful Dead's first attempt at a single, for Scorpio Records, in early 1966. The song is an old blues tune by Henry Thomas (see the Country "Hillbilly" Blues show). Check out Rockument's History of the Grateful Dead, Rockument's Haight-Ashbury page, and the Official Grateful Dead page.
This song is from the Grateful Dead's first album, and one of the few Dead songs written solely by Jerry Garcia. Sessions for first album were said to have been fueled by excessive use of amphetamines, and this song certainly exhibits a kind of crazy energy. Check out Rockument's History of the Grateful Dead, Rockument's Haight-Ashbury page, and the Official Grateful Dead page.
This song was the flip side of the Great Society's first single, "Somebody to Love" (which Grace Slick took with her to the Jefferson Airplane, which later made a hit out of it). In many ways it reveals the most original side of the band's musical style, playing these East-inspired whirling dervishes at least a year before the Beatles and Stones started using the sitar. The single was released on Autumn Records' North Beach label. See the Great Society fan page.
The Sopwith Camel were Terry MacNeil (piano, guitar), Peter Kraemer (vocal, sax, flute), Martin Beard (bass), and Norman Mayell (drums, marimba, harmonica). The second band in S.F. to be signed to a record label, the Camel scored a Top 30 hit with this song. Its members were intellectual -- MacNeil came from the Art Institute, Mayell was a Merry Prankster, and Kraemer was part of the scene at 1090 Page (Big Brother, the Family Dog, etc.) in the Haight, whose mother was part of an artists' circle in Nevada with visits by Salvadore Dali. The group disbanded after its first album, and recorded a comeback album in the late 1970s but never reformed. Check out this Sopwith Camel fan site with a complete history of the band.
Moby Grape were the most hyped of the S.F. bands by the L.A. music machinery. The Grape were a group of S.F. and L.A. musicians led by Skip Spence, guitarist, songwriter, and former drummer for Jefferson Airplane. Less than six months after being "discovered" by Columbia Records' David Rubinson, the group released its first album, and the record company released no less than six singles at once. To cap the hype overkill, the record company rented out the Avalon Ballroom in S.F. to put on a huge party. All the music heavies were there, Janis Joplin got up to sing with Moby Grape, and radio station KFRC donated 10,000 orchids which littered the floor. But later that night, after the party, three members of the band were busted up on Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County for having sex with underage girls. The singles were removed from radio stations around the country (due to the morals charge, which made headlines), and the subsequent tour degenerated into chaos as Moby Grape were thrown out of many cities before they could even play. Then, during recording sessions in New York for the group's second album, Wow, Skip Spence went over the psychdelic line and had to be restrained from chopping up the studio with an axe. He was hospitalized at Bellevue, and when he was released, he drove his motorcycle (reportedly in his pajamas) to Nashville, where he recorded Oar, a solo album on which he played all the instruments, now an underground classic (it sunk like a stone when first released). Spence was plagued by schizophrenia the rest of his life and never achieved the glory he deserved. He died in April, 1999. "Hey Grandma" is an excellent song that combines Peter Lewis' country-western influence (on rhythm guitar) with Bob Mosley's rhythm and blues orientation (on bass guitar) and Skip Spence's lunatic playing (rhythm guitar) with Jerry Miller (lead guitar), and Don Stevenson (on drums). "Omaha" (a.k.a. "Listen my friends") was the group's nost notable single that has endured as an influence on modern rock, covered with crystalline precision in the 1980s by the ad-hoc group the Golden Palominos (featuring R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe on vocals). Check the Official Moby Grape page for the band's history and current activities.
Country Joe started out as a folksinger, raised by Communist parents (he claimed he was named after Josef Stalin), singing protest songs by himself and with the 13-member Instant Action Jug Band in Berkeley. Barry Melton (lead guitar) joined the Jug Band just as it turned electric, along with Bruce Barthol (bass), David Cohen (organ), and John Francis Gunning (drums) who was later replaced by Chicken Hirsch. The Fish's official debut in August, 1966, was an opening slot for Quicksilver and the Dead at the Fillmore. The band alternated songs of political satire with outrageous psychedelia -- the only famous band of that period that was successful in its appeal to both leftists and hippies. This song appeared on the group's first electric album, and the version here is from the Monterey International Pop Festival in June, 1967. Check out Country Joe's site, the official Country Joe & the Fish site, and Barry Melton's page.
The first single from the quintessential and much-admired S.F. acid rock band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, featuring Gary Duncan (guitar), John Cipollina (guitar), David Freiberg (guitar and bass), and Greg Elmore (drums). The song is an electric, somewhat psychedelic version of a popular folk song by Hamilton Camp. The story has it that Freiberg learned this song from David Crosby while both were living as folkies in Venice, CA. See the John Cipollina Homepage fan site. See also the Official Quicksilver site.
The Jefferson Airplane were the most popular of the San Francisco Haight-Ashbury bands and the first to have a hit record. By this time, Grace Slick had replaced Signe Anderson on vocals, and she brought this song, along with "Somebody to Love," from the Great Society's repertoire. Check out this Jefferson Airplane fan site.
Originally released as a Mainstream label single, this song was the first to be heard from this band, including Janis, outside the Bay Area. Big Brother and the Holding Company were Janis Joplin (vocals), Peter Albin (bass), Sam Andrew (guitar), James Gurley (lead guitar), and Dave Getz (drums). Janis Joplin started singing with country and blues bands in Austin, Texas, after leaving her birthplace of Port Arthur. She was influenced by the early female blues and gospel singers as well as the new Texas "psychedelic" band the 13th Floor Elevators, led by Roky Erickson. Check out the Big Brother & the Holding Company official site and a very good Janis Joplin fan site.
At that time Santana was Carlos Santana (lead guitar and vocals), Mike Carrabello (conga and percussion), Dave Brown (bass), Jose Chepito Areas (timbales, conga and percussion), Mike Shrieve (drums), and Gregg Rolie (piano, organ, and vocals). Santana got its start by climbing up the fire escape of the Fillmore Auditorium, where he was confronted by Bill Graham, who admired the kid's spunk and allowed him to audition for future shows. Graham sponsored the group at Woodstock, and Santana became a supergroup. Check out the Official Carlos Santana site, with lots of information on current activities.
Steve Miller (guitar, harmonica, vocals), Tim Davis (percussion, vocals), Lonnie Turner (bass, guitar, vocals), Ben Sidran (keyboards), Glyn Johns (guitar, percussion, vocals). Check out the Official Steve Miller Band page, and the Unofficial Steve Miller Band page.
Another Scenes show: "San Francisco Psychedelic Rock"
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Monterey
International Pop Festival [30th Anniversary Box Set]
Quicksilver
Messenger Service 
