genre: beat, psych
country: us
quality: mp3 (256k, scans)
time: 46'34" size: 97 mb
Fuzz Acid & Flowers:
This San Francisco five piece had in Jan Errico the novelty of one of the very few girl drummers at the time, aside from Honey Lantree of England's Honeycombs. Formed in 1964, they soon secured a residency at the Morocco Room in San Mateo, following in the footsteps of The Beau Brummels, who'd gone on to better things. Very early in the residency they were discovered by the co-owners of Autumn Records, Tom Donahue and Bobby Mitchell, who signed them to their label. Rick Dey soon departed to join The Wilde Knights and was replaced by an older bassist who was known to everyone simply as Ron. The band soon became a popular live attraction during the Spring of 1965 at all the teen nightclubs, teen fairs and Battles Of The Bands in Northern California's burgeoning music scene. Their first 45, I StilI Love You, was a jangly Beatles/Byrds'-type folk-rocker, which has since resurfaced on The Sound Of The Sixties and Nuggets, Vol. 7 compilations. It became a very minor hit peaking at No 84 and helped secure the band appearances on 'American Bandstand', 'the Lloyd Thaxton Show' and 'Where The Action Is'. They returned to the studio in October 1965 to record Tom Paxton's folk-rocker The Last Thing On My Mind. This has subsequently resurfaced on Nuggets, Vol. 7 and Sound Of The 60's:- San Francisco, Part 1. To help promote it they enjoined to a West Coast tour with The Yardbirds and The Beach Boys. Later in the Spring of 1966 they played at another Battle Of The Bands in L.A. where they and the Buffalo Springfield were the only paid bands. The competition was actually won by The Doors. By now Reese Sheets had left the band to be replaced by Jim Sawyers, who'd previously been with San Jose band The Other Side. Both sides of their first two Autumn 45s also appeared on the Autumn Single Box compilation. Big Beat's Dance With Me: The Autumn Teen Sound CD features two versions of I Still Love You and Anything whilst the Someone To Love CD features both sides of the 2nd 45 and two unreleased Jan Ashton tracks - About My Tears and Cold Dreary Morning (the latter also on Nuggets Vol. 7). ...
Soon after Sawyers joined in 1965, Hollis and Ashton left (the latter for labelmates The Mojo Men) around the time of the second 45's release. Bailey recruited another female drummer called Kristy and they were augmented by Bob Moseley on guitar, but he moved quickly on (to Moby Grape) and was replaced by guitarist Richard Fortunato, formerly of The Preachers.
Early 1966 and Autumn Records were in financial difficulties. All of its roster was transferred to Warner Brothers. By then The Vejtables had nearly folded - in April 1966 Jim Sawyers left for The Syndicate Of Sound and Frank Smith also disappeared. Bailey and Fortunato were hangin' tough and drafted in two more ex-Preachers when Leo De Gar Kulka of Golden State Recorders offered them a contract with Mercury.
This incandescent but short-lived line-up produced the superb Uptown 45, featuring the raga-punker Feel The Music backed by Shadows, an excellent piece of experimental psychedelia. Both sides can be heard on Sound Of The Sixties - San Francisco Part 2 and Crystallize Your Mind CD; Feel The Music is also on Mayhem and Psychosis Vol. 2 and Pebbles Vol. 12; Shadows is on Acid Dreams.
Speculation over the years about the quality of the other tracks from these sessions had given them a legendary tag amongst collectors. Finally in 1994 Big Beat's Good Things Are Happening CD unearthed this handful of nuggets - Good Things Are Happening, Time And Place, Better Rearrange, Hide Yourself and Good Times - and expectations were met in FULL (kudos to Alec Palao). Five awesome proto-psych freakouts with strong sneering vocals from Fortunato and slabs of distorted guitar and feedback. Clearly influenced by the Yardbirds, The Vejtables had leapt forward to join that band in the musical vanguard at the dawn of the psychedelic era.
Bailey clung onto the band's name for another year but the personnel was erratic, as apparently was his behaviour. Another 45 did eventually surface in late 1967, with Frank Smith on board again, but was released as by the Book Of Changes. Fortunato had long gone onto a string of fascinating outfits - to George Caldwell's Bees, later the W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band, then ESB, and finally Fields.
(Vernon Joynson / Max Waller)
in various time:
BOB BAILEY vcls, tambourine
BOB COLE ld gtr
RICK DEY bs
JAN ERRICO (ASHTON) drms
NED HOLLIS gtr, organ
RON bs
REESE SHEETS ld gtr
FRANK SMITH bs
JIM SAWYERS ld gtr
KRISTY drms
BOB MOSELEY gtr
RICHARD FORTUNATO vcls, gtr
01. Anything 2:01
02. I Still Love You 2:26
03. Mansion of Tears 2:24
04. The Last Thing on My Mind 2:32
05. Smile, Smile, Smile 1:59
06. Cold Dreary Morning 2:16
07. I Still Love You (alternate version) 2:19
08. Feel the Music 2:53
09. Shadows 3:12
10. Better Rearrange 2:19
11. Good Times 3:32
12. Time and Place 3:49
13. Suddenly I'm Desperately in Love 2:37
14. I Stole the Goodyear Blimp 2:21
15. Hide Yourself 2:50
16. Good Things Are Happening 2:50
17. Hide Yourself (alternate instrumental take) 4:13
depositfiles, sharingmatrix
