In case you're wondering why I bring this up, it was the song playing on the soundtrack to the recent Mad Men episode where Don freaks out at an L.A. hippie pool party after smoking some particularly potent hashish.
As you can hear, it sounds like The Seeds instrumentally, but the vocals are rather more like The Association. I'm guessing this particular stylistic mash-up accounts for it not having been a chart-topper.
In any case, god only knows who connected with the show discovered it or how.
11 comments:
Yet the Association is one of the groups that performed at the Fillmore East.
Hell, they performed at Monterey Pop.
Good catch re: Seeds instrumentals. The song reminds me a little of "Pushin' Too Hard."
Having seen both The Seeds and The Association perform live "in their prime," I'll take The Association any day. But Sky was great in an embarrassing kind of way.
You actually saw the Seeds in their prime?
I'm not worthy. Seriously.
The folks at Mad Men are still quite creative in digging up the obscure tunes from time to time. They have to be, probably can't get the rights to better known songs. And the Association are great!
I could only take 34 seconds.
Bad music causes brain damage, and I've nearly reached my quota.
Love it!
Great item on the Mad Men tie-in. I listen to the music on the show and could not place that song -- thought it might have been an original composition for the show.
Did a little searching and found a tiny bit of info about the band here:
http://thatsallritemama.blogspot.com/2010/10/fly-bi-nites-on-tiffany.html
And a bio of the lead singer, who went from psychedelia to, of all things, workers comp law, here:
http://www.boviskyle.com/attorney/gregory-t-presmanes
He appears to continue to perform locally.
Somebody apparently has the Ugly Fabric Wall Art concession for that show --- Marimekko overkill.
Am I the only one who hears bits of Blue Oyster Cult and Don't Fear the Reaper? Maybe they were just a few years ahead of their time.
As to why the song was used on Mad Men, Bob Levinson, one of the co-producers of the show, was the guitarist in the Fly-Bi-Nites.
The Seeds were huge in L.A. for a bit. The top L.A. band's mantle was passed from the Byrds to Love to Buffalo Springfield to the Seeds to the Doors. After that, it would be Steppenwolf to Iron Butterfly to Three Dog Night. Yes, I know Steppenwolf hailed from Canada and made stops in NYC and SF, but they hit big when the moved to L.A.
As far as the Seeds went, they were too limited to sustain their popularity. They had the snarl and the attitude down, but they seemed to be writing the same two songs over and over.
Still, no one sings Saxon like Saxon.
I did see them live in their heyday and have to admit, they were quite exciting. Saxon, Hooper and Andridge had some unseen long ass hair for the time too.
They co-headlined a show with Buffalo Springfield at San Bernardno's Swing Auditorium that I attended. I was almost twelve. It was early 1967. I remember because it was the first time I got stoned.
I went with my girlfriend and her older sister in a red convertible 1965 VW. Big sis turned us on to pot on the drive. We were easily and willfully corrupted.
Springfield was riding high with "For What It's Worth," but the Seeds had two hits in the local charts - "Pushin' Too Hard," and "Mr. Farmer" - so they finished the show.
Obviously the Springfield was the better band. Steve had relatively short hair and wore the cowboy hat. Neil had his trademark fringed jacket and sideburns. Furay looked like a refugee from the New Christy Minstrels.
I think the bass player was Ken Koblun that night. It wasn't Bruce Palmer or Jim Fielder, whoever it was.
Both bands were pretty ballsy. I liked them better live than on record. You could tell "Can't Seem To Make You Mine," was going to be the Seeds next hit by the reception it got from the crowd.
In keeping with the times, the sets were very short and the sound systems were rather primitive. I'd guess a half hour per band, with a few local acts padding the bill.
I saw the Seeds a second time in the summer of 1967 at a club in Pomona called The Pacesetter. I'm guessing it held about 500 people. They were really promoting the Flower Power thing which was already becoming passe then. Funny, I didn't go to see the Seeds. I knew someone in one of the local opening bands and I begged him to let me come along.
The building that the Pacesetter was in still stands, but it's a Mexican dance place now called Mi Hacienda. I don't think the Pacesetter made it out of the Sixties.
Pink Floyd was actually supposed to play there on their first US tour, but like so many of their early gigs, it was canceled.
The next time I saw the Seeds was on "The Mothers-In-Law." They were already way over. When the flower power thing dried up, Saxon started wearing a turban in an attempt to start a new craze called "Desert Power." The hits did not keep on coming but shitty albums did.
Can someone please explain how they got Muddy Waters to do the liner notes for A Full Spoon of Shitty Blues? There must have been drugs, guns and prostitutes involved.
As far as the Association goes, the Tandyn Almer thing was very nice indeed. They were polished, but not a band I would shell out cash to see. They were for well-scrubbed preppy types and their angora-wrapped high school ring wearing "going steady" dates. Afterwards they would "Cherish" their awkward sex and premature ejaculation.
Yep they played the opening night at Monterey. The largely pop night which Simon and Garfunkel headlined.
Thank god Johnny Rivers and the Animals played that night to deliver a little bit of balls.
It's too bad the Hour Glass didn't get an opening gig there. Gregg Allman was in the crowd. That band was much better live than their stupid records. They would have kicked some major ass.
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