West Coast Daze, L.A Nights. 10 Iconic West Coast Bands From The 60's

With the 112^th Us Open Championship being contested at The Olympic Club, San Francisco, California this year, top sports tipster & tweeter (Betting Zone & Sky Sports) @DaveTindallgolf asked me to compile a list of West Coast bands from the golden age of rock, the 60’s. I thought this was a great idea, and so below, is a compilation of 10 iconic West Coast bands. (In no particular order & yes I know, you may have other artists/tracks in mind!) & a further list of a few more obscure bands & Californian heavyweights, just in case you wanted to dig a little deeper into those heady daze of Laurel Canyon & Haight-Ashbury.

The Byrds - Eight Miles High

The Byrds started out playing standard folk rock, graduating to the big league with Dylan’s Mr Tambourine Man in 1965. Just weeks after recording another folk song “He Was A Friend Of Mine” in 1966, the Byrds started to find their feet & made their mark in the burgeoning flower power scene with the acid tinged 'Eight Miles High'. It was one of the earliest known sonic attempts to recreate an LSD trip. Gene Clark’s lyrics coupled with McGuinn’s free form jazz style improvisations gave the listener a metaphor for an LSD trip into outer-space.

The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations

Recorded over a six month period, the final version of Good Vibrations highlights Brian Wilson’s genius in the production booth. Wilson’s micro symphony begins simply with a lone vocal and organ motif, but then transforms into a full blown theremin psych-out. It topped the charts in December 1966, & for a while John & Paul looked over their shoulders as Brian & The Beach Boys raised the bar even higher. For further listening, check out the Lp's Pet Sounds, Smile, Sunflower & Surf's Up.

Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth

A band that had in its ranks, not only Neil Young but also Stephen Stills. With it’s instantly recognisable opening riff, this track has been a stalwart in every Vietnam war film and just about every documentary on the late 60's ever since. Often mistaken for an anti-war song, it was actually about the "Sunset Strip riots" of the mid 60's which inspired Stephen Stills to write "For What It's Worth". Wrongly interpreted as a protest song, it's actually a reflection on the futility of the protest era. Not just flying the freak flag for protesters, Stills is encouraging everyone to "Stop, look around" to see what’s really going on, a whispered cry for some self examination & rationale.

"There's battle lines being drawn; Nobody's right if everybody's wrong"

White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane

Lewis Carroll set to a dark Latino beat. Grace Slick transferred this over from her previous band The Great Society, to the more psychedelic Jefferson Airplane in 1967. “When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead, And the white knight is talking backwards, And the red queen is off with her head, Remember what the dormouse said, Feed your head!, Feed your head!” Blatant drug propaganda lyrics misses all the censors to get in the Billboard top 10.

Love 7 And & 7 Is

L.A’s underground Sun Gods before The Doors popped up in late 66’ and signed to the same record label (Elektra) on Arthur Lee’s recommendation. Acid fuelled angst, proto punk garage. Love’s only top 40 hit smashes you in the teeth and leaves a splinter of blues under your fingernail. Their seminal record ‘Forever Changes’ was released a year later.

Janis Joplin – Ball & Chain (Monterey Pop Festival)

The first two albums by Janis’s band ‘Big Brother & The Holding Company’ were mostly demo’s and a major label botch job. The live cut of this track from The Monterey Pop Festival (studio version is on Cheap Thrills) captures the band at their peak & made them superstars overnight. Janis was the Queen of San Francisco right until her death in 1970 aged 27. Check out her final record ‘Pearl’ or posthumous live recordings to get a sense of where Janis was really coming from. She also famously smashed a quart bottle of Jack Daniels over Jim Morrison’s head.

The Seeds – Pushin’ Too Hard

L.A’s hippest garage band for one heady summer in 1966. The Seeds had the perfect blend of the West Coast punk/psych/garage sound until late 67, when they recorded their acid fuelled 3^rd lp, ‘Future’. Sky Saxon (great name) wrote hit "Pushin' Too Hard" in under 15 minutes sitting alone in a car, while he was waiting for his girlfriend to finish the weekly food shop. The lyrics can be interpreted about his girlfriend wanting to control him, or as a rant against 'The Establishment'.

The Grateful Dead – That’s It For The Other One

You can’t have an iconic West Coast list without Jerry Garcia’s band in there. The Dead were always the furthest ones out there , but you never heard how far until 68’s Anthem Of The Sun. Recorded over a 6 month period, with Bob Weir even asking producers to record the illusion of ‘thick air’. This track shows the development of their live sound recorded onto a studio record and is a barometer for future live adventures. Dark Star pts 1 and 2 off Live Dead from 69’ were the two tracks that got me into buying their records. But the seminal duo of records from 1970, ‘Workingmans Dead & ‘American Beauty’ are by far my favourite Dead albums.

The Doors – When The Music’s Over

Another shoe-in for the LA icons list. The Door’s first two albums each had one lengthy track on them. (The End on ‘The Doors’ début) These extended song structures were formed by playing & jamming them out live during late 65 & early 1966 at The London Fog & The Whiskey-A-Go-Go on La's strip. This particular track didn't actually appear until a year later on the Strange Days Lp. Jim Morrison was the Golden God or ‘Lizard King’ in L.A from the Summer of 67' (after the smash #1 Light My Fire) until the Spring of 69’ when he decided to throw off his Lizard King/Electric Shaman shackles, & get his John Thomas out in Miami in order to be taken more seriously as a poet. After being barred from almost every live concert hall & arena in the US, Jim morphed into my favourite Morrison period ‘The Bearded Drunk Blues Singer’. Subsequent albums, Morrison Hotel & L.A Woman were a refreshing turn of events after the plasticity of The Soft Parade, & the cobbled together nature of the Waiting For The Sun album.

Crosby, Stills Nash & Young – You Don’t Have To Cry

A trio that formed after David Crosby had been kicked out The Byrds, & the disintegration of Buffalo Springfield had left Stephen Stills unemployed. Crosby, Stills & Nash got together at a party in Mama Cass’s house after they realised they had a unique vocal harmony sound. Crosby was the ‘Lord of the Laurel Canyon’ community, as Nash put it, “He always had the best girls, the best drugs, the best parties, of course I was gonna join them” Their first Lp was an immediate hit with 2 smash singles. But with Stills being the prominent musician in the trio, they needed more personnel to undertake a tour. Neil Young joined in mid 69’ to make it a super-super-group. CSN&Y’s blend of harmonies & country melodies unwittingly paved the way for the next phase of Californian music, AOR Soft Country, with The Eagles picking up the L.A reigns.

Movers & shakers from the West Coast to click on & check out. Includes one or two more heavyweights and some classic garage/psych bands. Enjoy & explore.

The Charlatans                   

Country Joe & The Fish        

Captain Beefheart               

13^th Floor Elevators                     

The Count Five                 

The Vejtables                     

The Misunderstood           

The Mystery Trend               

Moby Grape                    

Tim Buckley                        

Chocolate Watchband          

Strawberry Alarm Clock         

Quicksilver Messenger Service       

Iron Butterfly                      

Mama’s & The Papa’s           

The Flying Burrito Brothers   

Santana                             

Blue Cheer                         

It’s A Beautiful Day             

Joni Mitchell     

                  

               

         

The Zombies Live At The Robin 2 Bilston May 2012

I discovered The Zombies by accident in the Summer of 1990, lurking somewhere on the B side of a 1970’s ‘Best Of The Sixties’ compilation, sandwiched awkwardly between Engelbert Humperdinck & The Tremeloes. The track was ‘Time Of The Season’. It sounded like nothing else on that trashy compilation & even today, in a blues club in the West Midlands, it still sounds fresh.

Time Of The Season

The Zombies formed 1961 in St Albans, the two main protagonists being Rod Argent (piano, organ, and vocals) and Colin Blunstone (vocals). The group surprisingly had minimal chart success in the 60’s, but had a few more hits over in the USA on the back of the British Invasion, even reaching the Billboard number 3 spot in 1968 with Time Of The Season. Their first UK LP, Begin Here (1965), was the typical mix of original songs & R&B covers as was the norm at the time, and it showed great promise for future original compositions. The band continued to record throughout 1965-66 trying to achieve chart success, but the hits didn't come. Even though Argent & White amassed enough material for a follow-up album, the lack of chart success kept most of those tracks from ever being issued.

In 1967, The Zombies signed to CBS Records, for whom they recorded the album Odessey and Oracle. (The word odyssey was misspelled by cover designers.) By the time Odessey and Oracle got released in April 1968, the group had disbanded. The LP had twelve songs which showcased the group's two main songwriters, Argent and Chris White, with tracks such as 'Care Of Cell 44', 'A Rose For Emily' & 'Beechwood Park'. The album ranked Number 80 on Rolling Stone magazine's '500 Greatest Albums of All Time', and regularly gets into 'essential' list's top 25.

Tonight however, The Zombies freight train pulls into The Robin 2, Bilston, West Midlands. It's a good sized venue for bands, both past & present, always booking good credible artists. (Terry Reid for instance, in 10 days time) The last group I came to see here was The Pretty Things, who totally tore it up with hard R&B from their early years. Unfortunately no material post 67’ from them that night, I would have loved to hear some tracks off their 1970 record, Parachute. Phil May nearly dropped his maracas when I requested some.

There are quite a few bands from yesteryear on the touring treadmill who basically, are in it for the money, and fill a gap in the market that a lot of fans (me included) crave for. I can’t blame them, a lot of great groups got ripped off during the 60’s & throughout the 70’s with many other people getting rich off their talent and the songwriters not seeing a single penny. I hasten to add, The Zombies are ‘not’ going through the treadmill of a cabaret/tribute show. They rock it out, & look like they are loving every second of their decade long reformation. The positive media reaction has given The Zombies the respect they deserve, starting with the successful 40th anniversary tour of the Odessey album, and bookending it with great reviews for the new album and recent live shows.

Although only 2 of the original members are on stage, the bass player, Jim Rodford (who looks a bit like David Jason circa ‘A Touch Of Frost’) was actually a founding member of Argent & also took Rod to his first Zombies audition in the early 60’s. Jim’s son Steve is on drums, and he is a great player in his own right, recording with many artists all over the world. The guitarist Tom Toomey (great name) is a very talented guy who according to Rod got the gig by being an amazing acoustic as well as electric player. He didn’t, I fancy, get the gig by having more than a passing resemblance to Harry Enfield’s character DJ Mike Smash, right down to the leather trousers. I like to think he keeps a faux silk Bachman Turner Overdrive tour jacket hanging up in the dressing room.

The set list tonight comprised of material from both of their careers post Zombies, (Argent, Alan Parsons & other assorted solo works) with a large chunk (5-6 songs) dedicated to their new album ‘Breathe Out, Breathe In’. The latest songs surprised me on two levels, the first mainly being that I didn’t realise that they were new, and secondly how easily they fitted into the eclectic nature of tonight's set. Only one new song that I heard had a poor chorus lyric & was pretty throwaway, compared with how the other new tracks sat with ease in the back catalogue. 

Rod’s mike falls off midway & guitarist Tom Toomey steps in to perform a great, impromptu version of Classical Gas to show us that Rod was right, he is indeed a great acoustic player. Another highlight was a section from the band’s seminal ‘Odyssey and Oracle’ album, with Time Of The Season an instant crowd pleaser from the first 2 bars.

Colin Blunstone’s voice is a force of nature. A man of his age and profession just shouldn't be able to still sing like that. From breathy lows to soaring highs, he still has them all, and hits them without breaking sweat. Unbelievable. I mean, just unbelievable.

Colin Blunstone

 At the end of the set, Argent’s ‘Hold Your Head Up’, all 8.30secs of it, is a floorstomping crowd pleaser with Blunstone stepping up, & easily delivering the lead vocal. The set closer, 1964’s She’s Not There is a classic slice of Zombies history that almost everyone knows, even reaching the giddy heights of number 2 in the USA. Santana also had a hit with it in the late 70's, taking it into the realms of Black Magic Woman territory. You can hear it on their 1977 Moonflower album.

 The band stay on stage for the encore and go straight into Argent’s ‘God Gave Rock Gave Rock And Roll To You’. Rod encourages the crowd to join in for the breakdown acapella refrain, and surprisingly the crowd is quiet & subdued apart from one man with a massive gob, belting the chorus out above everyone. (Sorry about that)  The night surprisingly climaxes with ‘Just Out of Reach’, a formulaic R&B single from 65’ which had minor chart success. On the evidence of tonight's tight, crafted set, if you have the chance, go and see The Zombies.

The merchandise stand was also awesome. Yes, the usual cd’s, singles, dvds, posters and so on were on sale. But mainly because there was also vinyl. Not new 180gm vinyl but original vinyl. (Goes giddy) In all fairness they did look they had come out of the sellers own collection, but I like to think of Colin & Rod scouring rare record shops buying up their own Lp's to sell at gigs. I purchased two solo albums, Blunstone’s Ennismore (1972) & Journey (1974).

One minor criticism of a near flawless evening is that Rod Argent likes to talk. A lot. I like the brief snatches of ‘where & how the band evolved' etc, but he tends to go on a just bit too much. “The new album reviews have really knocked us out, we had four star reviews in this, in that…”and so on. It especially drags when telling the crowd about newer bands & artists who are fans, ”Dave Grohl this, The Vaselines that, Paul Weller…..etc”.

Rod & Colin don’t need to justify themselves still being here, playing & making new music, or try to make themselves seem relevant in today's market. They are after all, The Zombies.

Belfry Days, Bel Air Nites.

The Belfry Hotel & Golf Complex. Stag golf. First up was the The Derby course, the chunkier, sweatier, less attractive sibling of the Brabazon & PGA National courses. The kind you see nervously fidgeting on the edge of a late 80's nightclub dance floor, fingers secretly crossed, praying for a slow dance to Luther Vandross's latest generic chart hit.

If you have never played it, you actually have. Every mid range municipal in your area ticks all the boxes the Derby has to offer. A series of bland holes, a good hole thrown in here and there, average fairways & greens marked like a Ray Liotta skin condition. Don't get me wrong, it's not awful for this time of year, but if you have one of those £99 overnight Winter deals and you play the PGA course next day, the difference in quality is huge. (there are less electricity pylons for a start). Some of my group could have played off the more satisfying PGA turf if their second shot wasn't already deemed out of bounds. The PGA preened itself every hour or so, lifting it's head over the boundary hedges, taunting us with it's winding fairways, deep bunkers & superior emerald green fairways. Almost wanting to sound-track itself, this time by a heavy set man in a buggy shouting to his group, "IT IS MY F**KIN BALL DAVE, I F**KIN TOLD YA". Then much softer, to himself, as he disappeared back below the tree line, "I f**kin told him it was my ball" 

I played pretty good, even though the Stag's consigliere had put various bottles of spirits on  at least 4 tee boxes. I scored 42pts. Which is amazing considering I have played this course at least 4 times, and played poorly on every outing. I put it down to a hot putter and a quart of Jack Daniels washed down with some kind of powerful rum.

A warning to golfers, "Don't drink & drive.....don't even putt"

The on site Bel Air night club is basically an ill judged time capsule. It's like someone has eaten the 80's and then thrown up on themselves. Me to DJ. "Can you play some Stones, Beatles or...anything like that?" DJ "Yeah no probs mate" as he ignored all requests & looped 'Now That's What I Call Music Vol's 1-8'. My friend the stag, got asked "to leave" around 12.30 ish, I'm still unsure why. Was it because he was last seen crawling around on the floor looking for a lost camera battery, or was it because he was wearing my massive collared shirt and a fur waistcoat? 

I missed the next days golf on the PGA. A work commitment probably did me a huge favour from a golfing point of view. Half of the group apparently didn't last the next day on The PGA National, it beat them up and then spat them out. A reminder to all stag/golfers, that dancing at 2.30am to 'Alexander O' Neal's Criticize' is not the best way to prepare for one of the toughest tests an amateur golfer will have to face.

'The Mechanic' Miguel Angel Jimenez Warms Up On The Range with commentary from Peter Alliss

Miguel Ángel Jiménez is easily in my top five favourite golfers of all time. This just may have put him into the top three.

Kicking Back At Celtic Manor 2010. Job Done.

Last Of The Mohicans 'An Evening With Alliss'

Peter Alliss once held the record of being the heaviest baby in Europe, weighing in at 14lbs & 11 ounces. His father, Percy, head pro at a German golf club, gave a few Nazi's some lessons, purposely leaving them with a 'wicked incurable slice'. Between 1954 & 1969 Peter won 21 tournaments, including three British PGA championships - and was twice winner of the Vardon Trophy. He has a 43% Ryder Cup winning record. On occasion he still wears his 2004 Oakland Hills Ryder Cup bomber jacket.

‘An Evening With Alliss’ is pretty much what you would expect (and want) from a man who has earned his living for over 50 years playing & talking about his life passion. The above paragraph is pretty much a condensed version of the first 15 minutes of the show, apart from the bomber jacket bit. That one’s mine. (I bumped into Peter at Woburn Abbey a couple of years ago, just as he walked into the bar rocking that jacket like an octogenarian P Diddy)

Like Dave Allen, all he has onstage is a stool, a jug of water and unfortunately a pretty crap quality microphone. The timbre of his dulcet tones are reduced to a shadow of its BBC HD audio counterpart. That aside, Alliss is a great raconteur, expanding on stories that he may have told a thousand times, but I fancy he recounts them with a wicked freshness to every new audience. (Tonight's is the 41st on this tour) He has clearly enjoyed his life in golf, and maintains that golfers from yesteryear were the best technical players to have ever played the game, (& when he explains why, it’s hard to disagree with him). He does however hold some of the modern players in high regard. Seve, for instance is dearly loved by Alliss, & when someone in the Q+A section of the evening asks about Tiger’s shenanigans, he simply replies “Tiger was like a celibate monk compared to Seve” 

As my friend Tom & I were racking our brains to try and think of good, provoking questions to ask, Tom pondered “Is it possible to be a truly great player & a gentleman?” Peter was already kind of answering that one, as he was currently waxing lyrical about the great Jack Nicklaus. I wanted to ask him, “Who in the current crop of commentators or pundits, from either the BBC or Sky, did he think could fill his off the cuff, meandering, tan moccasins when he finally retires?”

After tonight’s show, I didn't need to ask. No-one can. Who else could come out with one of my favourite ‘Allissisms’ from last years Open Championship at Royal St Georges;

“Oooh, what a wonderful old clubhouse, I could just imagine looking through the windows and watching the Colonel bash one off”

Thanks Peter.

                                          Picture Tom Cox ©

 If you would like to support any of Peters charities, please click here thank you.

O' Brothers Where Art Thou? In Primark, Briefly.

For one fleeting moment, probably only half a second, I shared a knowing nod with another late thirty something male. Under normal social circumstances, we would never acknowledge each other, & from experience, this guy would want to cave my feather cut head in. Probably just after the five Jägerbombs he had downed in 10 minutes at The Dog & Pond as a dare from his mates.  This brief bond was fuelled by a gaunt hollow cheeked locking of eyes through the rails of dangerously combustible dresses in a generic shopping mall . The last time he saw lapels & trouser bottoms as wide as mine, was possibly on his Mum & Dad's 1973 wedding photo. The last time I saw trousers & espadrilles like his, was when Crockett slid across the bonnet of his Porsche in a 'rolled up sleeve' trouser suit. But we both knew outside the boundaries of the ladies section at Primark & New Look, back in the jungle they call The Slug & Lettuce, it was going to be every man for himself.