Psychedelic 1 Hit Wonders: 4 Songs From the Late '60's

Welcome to the One Hit Wonders series on Rock & Roll Flashback!  Back in Rock and Roll Flashback podcast episode numbers 33 and 34 I discussed the development of Psychedelic Rock music in the 1960's and 1970's.  Today's podcast episode will focus on four psychedelic rock songs released during the late 1960's that I would characterize as one hit wonders.  These four songs by four different bands featured some of the studio experimentation, distortion effects, and trippy lyrics that were being incorporated in the emerging psychedelic rock genre in the late 1960's. 

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Transcript

Thank you for that introduction and welcome to the One Hit Wonders series on Rock & Roll Flashback!  Back in Rock and Roll Flashback podcast episode numbers 33 and 34 I discussed the development of Psychedelic Rock music in the 1960's and 1970's.  Today's podcast episode will focus on four psychedelic rock songs released during the late 1960's that I would characterize as one hit wonders.  These four songs by four different bands featured some of the studio experimentation, distortion effects, and trippy lyrics that were being incorporated in the emerging psychedelic rock genre in the late 1960's.

Of the four bands mentioned in this podcast episode, only one proved to be long lasting.  The Chambers Brothers ended up performing together for parts of four decades, from the 1950's into the 1980's.  The Chambers Brothers band of the late 1960's was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions with modern psychedelic and rock elements.  Originally from Carthage, Mississippi, the four Chambers Brothers first sang together as members of the choir in their Baptist church.  Then, beginning in 1954, the foursome played gospel and folk music throughout the Southern California region.  Initially The Chambers Brothers consisted of George on washtub bass, Lester on harmonica, and Willie and Joe on acoustic guitars.  By 1965 the group started to venture outside the gospel circuit, playing at coffeehouses that booked folk acts.  While performing at The Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles, they caught the eye of Barbara Dane.  Dane felt that The Chambers Brothers would be perfect to perform freedom songs that were gaining popularity.  So Dane became a great supporter of the group, performing and recording with the brothers.  With the addition of Brian Keenan on drums, Dane took them on tour with her and introduced them to Pete Seeger.  

Pete Seeger put the Chambers Brothers on the bill of the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.  One of the songs they performed there, "I Got It", was included on the Newport Folk Festival 1965 compilation LP.  On the night of their Newport Folk Festival performance The Chambers Brothers played at a post-concert party for festival performers.  They also attended a Bob Dylan recording session.  Dylan had performed with electric instruments for the first time at that same Festival.  Shortly after appearing at Newport, the group released its debut album, People Get Ready.

Already successful on the folk circuit, The Chambers Brothers decided to convert to electric guitars and develop more of a rock and roll sound.  In 1966 the band recorded an early version of a song written by Willie & Joe Chambers called "Time Has Come Today".  However, that recording was rejected by the band's label, Columbia Records.  Instead, on December 19th, 1966 Columbia released the single "All Strung Out Over You", backed with "Falling In Love".  "All Strung Out Over You" became a regional hit for the group, giving them the opportunity to re-record "Time Has Come Today".

The new recording of "Time Has Come Today" featured a fuzz guitar twinned with a clean one, echoing vocal effects, and Keenan's prominent drumming.  Another effect employed in its recording and production was the alternate striking of two cow bells producing a "tick-tock" sound.  The "tick-tock" was warped throughout most of the song by reverb, echo, and changes in tempo.  The song also included an extended "freak out" in the middle, as well as several bars from "The Little Drummer Boy".  With its psychedelic feel, the resultant song has been described as psychedelic rock, psychedelic soul, and acid rock.   

The newly created 11 minute 6 second recording of "Time Has Come Today" was featured on the album The Time Has Come.  That LP was released in November 1967.  A year later, on December 14th, 1968, at its 27th week on the Billboard albums chart, it peaked at #6.  In Canada the album  reached #11, and it ranked #79 on the Cashbox Top 100 Pop Albums of 1968.  For play on AM radio, Columbia released two edited single versions of shorter length.  They were released as single versions in December 1967.  In September and October 1968 the "Time Has Come Today" single spent five consecutive weeks at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.  In Canada, the song reached #9.  

[Here is an edited version of “Time Has Come Today”] 

“Time Has Come Today” has been covered by many artists over the years since its initial release.  The song has also been featured in a number of movies, television shows, commercials and other forms of entertainment.  It is now considered one of the landmark rock songs of the psychedelic era.  The Chambers Brothers disbanded in 1972, but reconvened two years later.  They released two more studio albums and performed live occasionally through the 1970's and 1980's.  Be sure to check out Questlove's excellent Summer of Soul documentary from 2021.  That film which tells the story of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and features The Chambers Brothers.

The Strawberry Alarm Clock came about in 1967 when parts of two Southern California bands, Thee Sixpence and Waterfyrd Traene, merged into one.  The merged group kept the Thee Sixpence name and were based in the L.A. suburb of Glendale, California.  Their initial lineup consisted of Ed King (lead guitar, vocals), Michael Luciano (vocals), Lee Freeman (rhythm guitar, harmonica, vocals), Gary Lovetro (bass), Steve Rabe (guitar, vocals), and Gene Gunnels (drums).  When Gunnels, Rabe, and Luciano departed, Randy Seol (drums, vibes, percussion, vocals) and Mark Weitz (keyboards, vocals) joined the band.  They immediately changed the band name to Strawberry Alarm Clock.

The first and most famous single by Strawberry Alarm Clock was "Incense and Peppermints", produced by Frank Slay.  To sing lead on the track Slay chose Greg Munford, a 16-year-old friend of the band from another group called Shapes of Sound.  The song was originally released by All American Records as a B-side to "The Birdman of Alkatrash".  The Uni Records subsidiary of MCA picked up the record for national distribution, and the single was re-released in May 1967 with "Incense and Peppermints" as the A-side and "Birdman" as the B-side.  During the week ending November 25th, 1967 the song reached #1 for one week on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained on the charts for a total of 16 weeks.  A gold disc was awarded for sales of one million copies by the RIAA on December 19th, 1967.  

[Here is "Incense and Peppermints"]

Shortly after recording "Incense and Peppermints", the band added George Bunnell, on bass, rhythm guitar, and vocals, before making their first album.  Songwriters Bunnell and Steve Bartek participated in the writing and recording of Strawberry Alarm Clock's first LP.  Also titled Incense and Peppermints, it reached #11 on the US album chart in late 1967.  Their music was categorized as acid rock, psychedelic pop, and sunshine pop.  In November 1967, and again in April 1968, Strawberry Alarm Clock toured with the Beach Boys and Buffalo Springfield.  In their early days of touring, the band members would often sit on "magic carpets" as their roadies carried them to the stage.  Drummer Seol would rig up gas jets on his wrists to give the illusion that he was playing the bongos and vibes with his hands on fire.  He stopped when the gimmick became too dangerous.  The band also made a cameo appearance performing Incense and Peppermints in the Richard Rush 1968 film Psych-Out.  During Strawberry Alarm Clock's short lifespan, the band would undergo numerous lineup changes.  

The Lemon Pipers were a short-lived 1960's rock band from Oxford, Ohio.  The band was comprised of drummer Bill Albaugh, guitarist Bill Bartlett, vocalist Dale "Ivan" Browne, keyboardist Robert Nave, and bassist Steve Walmsley, who replaced the original bass guitarist Bob "Dude" Dudek.  The band was formed in 1966 by student musicians from Oxford, Ohio, who had played the college bars with their previous groups that included The Wombats, Ivan and the Sabres, and Tony and the Bandits.  The band played a mixture of blues, hard rock and folk rock, with a few covers from The Byrds and The Who.  They gigged regularly in Oxford at The Boar's Head, and in Cincinnati at The Mug Club and The Ludlow Garage.  The original band existed as a quartet, and then gained notoriety by reaching the finals in the Ohio Battle of the Bands at the Cleveland Public Auditorium in 1967, losing out to the James Gang.

With Miami University student Browne as frontman, the Lemon Pipers engaged Ohio music industry impresario Mark Barger.  On advice from Barger, The Lemon Pipers signed a recording contract and music publishing deal with Buddah Records.  Paul Leka was assigned to be their record producer.  The group began playing larger auditorium and concert hall venues around the US.  On March 21st, 1968 they appeared at Fillmore West on the same bill with Traffic, Moby Grape and Spirit.  

Buddah's plans for the group focused on bubblegum pop rather than rock music.  Their debut on Buddah was a Bartlett composition, "Turn Around and Take a Look".  When the song failed to make the charts, Buddah asked Leka and his songwriting partner, Shelley Pinz, to come up with a song.  The resulting song was "Green Tambourine".  The band reluctantly recorded it.  Multiple studio effects were incorporated in the recording.  In addition to using an electric sitar, producer Leka used a heavy, psychedelic tape echo applied to the word "play" in each chorus and at the end, fading into a drumroll.  The musical arrangement also features sweeping orchestrated strings and the distinctive vibraslap percussion instrument.  Leka hired a string section to accompany the band, to add extra depth to the already psychedelic arrangement.

"Green Tambourine" was released in November 1967 and reached #1 in February 1968 on the Billboard and Cashbox charts.  The song peaked at #7 in the UK Singles Chart, and was also a hit worldwide.  

[Here is "Green Tambourine"]

"Green Tambourine" sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in February 1968.  The song has been credited as being the first bubblegum pop chart-topper.

The success of "Green Tambourine" caused the label to put pressure on the Lemon Pipers to stay in the same genre.  In March 1968 the band released another Leka/Pinz song, "Rice Is Nice", which failed to break into the top 40 on the US Billboard charts.  The band had little enthusiasm for either song.  The band members were conflicted, having been a stand-up rock 'n' roll band, and then all of a sudden being told how and what to play in the studio.  The band would record two albums for Buddah, Green Tambourine and Jungle Marmalade, but neither was successful commercially.  The Lemon Pipers left the Buddah label in 1969 and later dissolved.  

Bubble Puppy was formed in 1966 in San Antonio, Texas, by Rod Prince and Roy Cox.  They had previously performed together in the rock group called The Bad Seeds.  Looking to form a new rock band based on the concept of dual lead guitars, Prince and Cox recruited guitarist Todd Potter.  With the addition of Danny Segovia and drummer Clayton Pulley, the original lineup of Bubble Puppy was complete.  The name "Bubble Puppy" was taken from "Centrifugal Bumble-puppy", a fictitious children's game in Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel Brave New World.  After some band member departures, the final lineup of Bubble Puppy settled with Rod Prince and Todd Potter on lead guitars, Roy Cox on bass guitar, and David "Fuzzy" Fore on drums.  In the spring of 1967, Bubble Puppy moved to Austin, Texas, and signed a recording contract with Houston-based International Artists.  

The band appeared and toured with many notable artists from 1967 until 1971, including The Who, Grand Funk Railroad, Canned Heat, Steppenwolf, Jefferson Airplane, Bob Seger, Johnny Winter, and Janis Joplin.  Bubble Puppy's only hit was the psychedelic single "Hot Smoke & Sasafrass".  Released in 1969, the song would became International Artists' biggest single.  It peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #15 in Canada.  In addition to its misspelling of "sassafras", the title was inspired by a line of dialogue heard in an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.  

[Here is "Hot Smoke and Sasafrass"]

Attempting to capitalize on the song's unexpected success, Bubble Puppy released their debut album that year, titled A Gathering of Promises, but sales were poor and the group parted ways with International Artists in 1970.  Bubble Puppy moved to Los Angeles in 1970 and changed their band name to Demian.  Demian signed a contract with ABC-Dunhill Records.  They released one self-titled album in 1971, but its failure to perform on the charts led to financial difficulties with the label and the group's break-up in 1972.

This concludes another episode in the One Hit Wonders series on Rock & Roll Flashback.  We hope you enjoyed "Psychedelic One Hit Wonders:  4 Songs From the Late '60's".  I'm Jumpin' John McDermott...and until next time...ROCK ON!