genre:
beat, psychcountry: us
quality :
lossless (WavPack, cue, log, scans, 1994) &
mp3 (320k, scans, 1993)
time: 51'22"
size: 122 mb
Fuzz Acid & Flowers:
This San Jose band formed in the summer of 1965 at Foothills college in Los Altos and were discovered late the following year by Ed Cobb. Their original line-up included Pete Curry on drums, who went on to become guitarist / songwriter with
The Halibuts. His time in the band was severely limited however, and after their first gig was replaced by Gary Andrijasevich. Although nothing was released by the first couple of line-ups (*), they were reputedly on par with the "classic"
The Chocolate Watchband, with Dan Phay being a particularly charismatic front-man.
The band were also friends with another act called
The Topsiders who for a short while included Skip Spence, prior to his joining
Jefferson Airplane. In 1965, both bands underwent a number of changes, with Phay, Torney and Kemling all leaving to join
The Topsiders (who then became
The Other Side), whilst Sean Tolby, moved from
The Topsiders to
The Chocolate Watchband. Indeed Mark Loomis (ex-
Shandels) also had a brief spell with
The Other Side after Rich Young was drafted, before he decided to reform the 'Watchband with Gary Andrijasevich and Jo Kemling. The latter opted to stay with
The Other Side however, and bassist, Bill Flores (ex-
Shandels) and, a vocalist, biology student Dave Aguilar, were drafted in to complete
The Chocolate Watch Band's new line-up. Heavily influenced by British R & B outfits like
The Stones and
The Yardbirds, the band gigged regularly around the Bay Area supporting bands like
The Doors,
Big Brother and The Holding Co. and
The Mothers of Invention.
They were signed to Tower and recorded a debut single in 1966. The 'A' side, written by Cobb, was a fine Stones' infIuenced number, but with an uniquely Californian interpretation. Inexplicably, Tower issued the single on its black R & B subsidiary label, Uptown, which did not, as a white group on this label, attract the airplay it deserved.
On Cobbs insistence,
The Chocolate Watch Band returned to the studio to record a cover version of Blue Theme, originally performed by
Dave Allen and the Arrows, on the soundtrack to The Wild Angels. However, Tower were not convinced of its commerciality, and Cobb leased the finished master to Hanna Barbers records. It was released, under the pseudonym, The Hogs, as HBR 511, with Loose Lip Sync Ship, which culminates into a strange psychedelic piece of dementia, on the flip side. It was quite successful locally and Dave Allen's version of Blue Theme became a Top 40 hit.
The 'A' side of their next single Misty Lane was more commercial and not as powerful as Sweet Young Thing. The flip was an uncharacteristically reflective, quieter number with a stringed and woodwind section.
1967 saw the band record two tracks Don't Need Your Lovin' and Sitting Here Standing, on the soundtrack to Riot On Sunset Strip. September 1967 saw the release of their debut album
No Way Out. Essentially a collection of psychedelic punk, containing the impressive Let's Talk About Girls (featured on the Nuggets compilation), punk versions of Come On and In The Midnight Hour as well as drug-influenced songs like Expo 2000, The Dark Side Of The Mushroom, Gosamer Wings and the title track. Many of the songs have an Eastern influence. It has later been revealed that the band did not play on the spacier tracks on this album, for which Cobb used session musicians. It is now known, too, that arranger Don Bennett and not Dave Aguilar sang the vocals on Let's Talk About Girls. However, the full band did play on Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love In)/No Way Out their next single lifted from the album. Aguilar's explanation for the mixed-up nature of the studio recordings is that the band considered themselves primarily live performers who "loved to challenge big-namegroups and blow 'em off the stage. That's where we got our excitement and our kicks". The studio stuff was considered a mere sidelight which they left mainly in Cobb's hands.
