Hawkwind - Silver Machine

United Artists UP35381, 1972
 
I first heard this song in Skipper's Music Store - 1972 is my guess - but I didn't know who it was. I distinctly remember seeing Black Sabbath's Vol. 4 put up on the "now playing" display and assuming that was what I was listening to. I didn't think too much about it then but the song would come back to me afterward - become stuck in my head.

Long story short - many clueless store clerks later, Black Sabbath LPs purchased in vain... a quest that continued for years. A song with something about something machine. The trail ran cold, decades go by...

--

Earlier this year my son sent this record to me to rip to mp3 for him, which he won on eBay. We've both been getting into some early Hawkwind lately, and this 45 sort of slipped through the cracks of their original discography so he was especially keen to hear it.

Anyway, it was one of those weird moments, putting this 45 on. It just started with a weird premonition on the song's fade in. By the first chorus, it all came back. I was back at Skipper's Music, and it all makes sense. That song that was stuck in my head all these years. Hawkwind. Of course.



Skipper's Music always had a great selection of Krautrock, Space Rock and various European ephemera. Can, Guru Guru, Neu etc... I was familiar with all those names and corresponding album covers back then, just from browsing through that store's inventory (though admittedly my 12 year old musical tastes didn't catch up until long after). Totally missed this one, though.

The Thirteenth Floor Elevators - Tried To Hide

International Artists 107, 1966 (B-side of "You're Gonna Miss Me")
 
A recent find. This one is news to me: a completely different version from the LP track. Really fast and rough, with much harmonica. I read somewhere how many of their early recordings were abandoned and rerecorded for what became their first LP. That seems to be the case with this song.




BTW, There's a new 10-CD box set of the Elevators called Sign Of The 3 Eyed Men (anyone?) that has a disk of early sessions called "Headstone". I would bet this track is on it.

The Who - I Can See For Miles

Decca 32206, 1967
 
I've come back to this in part from hearing the remastered CD of The Who Sell Out recently. I've always preferred the sound of the original US single, with its dense mono mix and notably more prominent bass guitar.

Listening to this now, I'm convinced it's a different bass track altogether. On the album mix, John Entwistle stays mostly on the tonic note during the verses, but on the single he follows Pete Townshend's chord changes instead. (Kind of hard to notice the difference with casual listening, especially since the bass line is mixed way down on the album version). It's possible that the the bass on the single may be an overdub, added later to compensate for the poorly recorded original.



Don't bother with the version on the mono The Who Sell Out LP - it's just a reduction of the stereo mix. The single is still the only way to hear this.

The Fall vs. 2003

Susan vs. Youthclub / Janet vs. Johnny - Action (UK), 2002

"The Fall vs. 2003" must have been an in-joke, no doubt in reference to the seemingly interminable time it took to get the Country On The Click LP finished. The LP was eventually shelved anyway, with only these two tracks as official evidence of what was to be. The B-side - in a radically altered version - would appear on their next album.

listen to "Susan vs. Youthclub":

listen to "Janet vs. Johnny":