Roots music, particularly blues, folk and even bluegrass, were the basis of huge chunks of ’60s rock and other popular music. Nowhere is that more evident than in this superb new Rhino collection of music from Elektra. Subtitled The Golden Age of Elektra Records – 1963-1973, this set brilliantly highlights that connection. In fact, this set is almost an American version of the groundbreaking English box set Electric Muse, except of course that this one draws from only one label.
But what a label it was in this, its heyday. During this time, Elektra went from being a folk-only label to the home of The Doors, Stooges, MC5 and Queen. There is an astounding wealth of music in this set, everything from chart-soaring standards like Judy Collins’ “Amazing Grace” and The Doors’ “Light My Fire” to tracks by relative obscurities like Hamilton Camp, Alasdair Clayre and the Stalk-Forrest Group.
The first four discs are arranged more or less chronologically, although it starts with a 1964 track (Collins’ cover of Pete Seeger’s “Turn, Turn, Turn” from her third album), before hitting the more obscure 1963 track “He Was a Friend” by Dian and the Greenbriar Boys. Collins is a recurring presence with “Hard Lovin’ Loser” on Disc 2, her smash cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” on Disc 3, “Amazing Grace” on Disc 4, and a rather stiff version of Dylan’s “I’ll Keep it With Mine” (which he wrote for her to sing) on Disc 5, which is subtitled “Another Time, Another Place” and showcases mostly offbeat and obscure sides from throughout the decade. Others who show up on several tracks include the “Spider” John Koerner, Dave Ray and Tony Glover, either as a trio, solo or in various other combinations; Phil Ochs, represented by one of his best-known protest songs, “I Ain’t Marching Anymore” as well as his first recorded love song, “Changes”; Tom Paxton (“The Last Thing On My Mind,” “Jennifer’s Rabbit” and “One Time And One Time Only”); Love (“My Little Red Book,” “She Comes In Colors,” “Alone Again Or” and “August”); Tim Buckley (“Wings,” “Once I Was,” “Sing A Song For You” and “Wayfaring Stranger”); as well as The Doors, Bread, Carly Simon and even the Holy Modal Rounders. The Rounders only had one Elektra release, The Moray Eels Eat The Holy Modal Rounders, with a lineup that included Sam Shepard on drums. Disc 2 has “Dame Fortune” and Disc 5 what was released as a single (a surprise to me!) titled “The Bird Song” but was in fact the well-known “If You Wanna Be A Bird” from the Easy Rider soundtrack. This is that track from the movie soundtrack album, which has been hard to track down in the CD and streaming eras.
The real treats in this set, though, are the booklet and some of the obscurities and surprises. Dick Rosmini, for instance, has three tracks on Disc 1, on which he showcases one at a time his stunning skills on banjo and six- and 12-string guitars. Or there’s Oliver Smith, a blind street singer who does old-time music in the Riley Puckett style, singing in a stentorian voice; the album his “Breeze” is taken from was recorded in one take in two hours — incredible! Fred Neil was (and remains) hugely influential on other musicians, many of whom had hits with his songs, but he’s not well known by the public. For those like me who probably wouldn’t buy a whole album of his on spec, it’s nice to have his “Other Side To This Life.” The same holds for the likes of Paul Siebel (whose “Louise” has been covered many times), Mickey Newbury, and even Geoff Muldaur.
Then there are some real rare gems: Judy Henske’s “High Flying Bird,” sung in her arresting voice, in a style that floats somewhere between jazz and folk — she was probably way ahead of her time and could be a popular indie act today; two early tracks by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band showing that ensemble’s progress with electric blues; the one hit single by the band Crabby Appleton, “Go Back,” which I probably hadn’t heard since it was on the radio in 1969; “When The Battle Is Over” by Delaney & Bonnie and Friends before they were a supergroup — here they’re making some of the first of what came to be called blue-eyed soul; and an early demo by the Doors of “Moonlight Drive” — let’s just say Jim Morrison hadn’t found his voice yet.
Disc 5 is choc-a-bloc with this kind of one-off, left-field bits and one-hit wonders. There’s “Don’t Be Long” by The Beefeaters, when the group that became The Byrds was still aping the British Invasion bands. And “Good Time Music,” a track the Lovin’ Spoonful cut for Elektra before signing with Happy Buddha instead (big mistake). And a pre-cream version of “Crossroads” by Eric Clapton and Powerhouse — Clapton, Jack Bruce, Steve Winwood, Paul Jones and Pete York.
The booklet is full of stories behind the songs from the musicians, label head Jac Holzman, producers and others, and tangential tales contributed by other musicians. Like the genesis of the name of the band Crabby Appleton, which has a Captain Kangaroo tie-in. Or Jimmy Page professing Dick Rosmini’s influence on his own guitar-playing style. Or the story of singer-songwriter Hamilton Camp, who wrote the powerful folksong “Pride of Man,” and how he traded that song to one Dino Valenti (a.k.a. Chet Powers, a.k.a. Jesse Oris Farrow), who was a folksinger before he became lead vocalist for Quicksilver Messenger Service. In return, Valenti gave his song “Everybody Get Together” to Camp, who recorded it several years before The Rascals had their hit with it. Valenti is represented with his whimsical folksong “Birdses,” and Roger McGuinn writes in the booklet how that song inspired the name of his groundbreaking folk-rock group The Byrds.
But I know that not everybody is an inveterate liner-note geek like me. That’s why the music on Forever Changing is the true focus. This is a box set of extraordinary quality for the music alone. In its tight examination of just one label, it presents almost a shadow history of the ’60s and early ’70s, when a counterculture’s music briefly flowered into the most popular music in the world. Buy this one for the music, and you’ll enjoy the whole package.
(Rhino, 2006)
