Simon & Garfunkel - The Only Living Boy in New York

Columbia 45133, 1970

The single is a little different, in a good way. The lead vocal isn't so heavily processed like on the album (that cheezy ADT effect that makes everyone sound like a robot). Instead there's just some reverb over everything, which is very Classic Rock.

Garfunkel still sounds like a ghost on this one.

The Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man

London (US) 5N909, 1968

One of my first Stones records. My favorite single of theirs, for sure. I remember finding this in the remainder bin at Woolworth's (39 cents), which was strange because it didn't seem to chart. Never heard it on the radio at the time, either.

Get down!
 
Hey, said my name is called Disturbance
I'll shout and scream, I'll kill the King,
I'll wail at all his servants... 
 
Mick Jagger, 1995:
It was a very strange time [1968] in France. But not only in France but also in America, because of the Vietnam War and these endless disruptions... There was all this violence going on. I mean, they almost toppled the government in France; De Gaulle went into this complete funk, as he had in the past, and he went and sort of locked himself in his house in the country. And so the government was almost inactive. And the French riot police were amazing. Yeah, it was a direct inspiration, because by contrast, London was very quiet...
 
Keith Richards, 1977:
Street Fighting Man was all acoustics. There's no electric guitar parts in it. (Even the high-end lead part was through) a cassette player with no limiter. Just distortion. Just two acoustics, played right into the mike, and hit very hard. There's a sitar in the back, too. That would give the effect of the high notes on the guitar. And Charlie was playing his little 1930s drummer's practice kit. It was all sort of built into a little attaché case, so some drummer who was going to his gig on the train could open it up - with two little things about the size of small tambourines without the bells on them, and the skin was stretched over that. And he set up this little cymbal, and this little hi-hat would unfold. Charlie sat right in front of the microphone with it. I mean, this drum sound is massive. When you're recording, the size of things has got nothing to do with it. It's how you record them. Everything there was totally acoustic. The only electric instrument on there is the bass guitar, which I overdubbed afterwards.
 
There's three mixes of the original recording in existence: the original UK single on Decca (found on the remastered singles box), which is very crude sounding and has an earlier vocal take; there's the common stereo album version, which everyone has heard... and this, the US mono 45, which is similar to the album version except that the drums are brought way up and sound fantastic.



Edit to mention how awesome Nicky Hopkins' piano work is on this track. He was such a huge part of their sound at the time, probably more of a contributor to the band than Bill Wyman or Brian Jones (see Sympathy For The Devil, Salt Of The Earth).

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.