Love Is The Grooviest Thing Up To Now In The World

Wow, I've been doing this for a year now. I honestly wasn't sure that I'd keep it going but here we are with post #239. Thanks for dropping by and for leaving comments over the past 12 months, it really means a lot.

What better way to celebrate than with side 1 of Psychedelic Sixties, an obscure Australian compilation from 1988 that I picked up on cassette during my year in the land of Oz in 1990/91. I wasn't familiar with most of the songs on the album, apart from maybe Scott Mckenzie and Donovan, though I'd heard of White Rabbit, through the cover by Act (featured here previously). I'd always thought that the song was originally by Jefferson Airplane and officially it is, as their recorded version first hit the charts in 1967. However, The Great Society's live version was performed the previous year, before Grace Slick left the band (and subsequently her husband and bandmate) to join Jefferson Airplane. This earlier live version most likely ended up here for licensing rather than aesthetic reasons, but I like it.

 

I became obsessed by The Peanut Butter Conspiracy song for a while and insisted on sticking it on loads of mixtapes when I got back to the UK. Eight Miles High is probably my favourite song by The Byrds and I love the raucous cover version by Hüsker Dü. Vyt & The World were an Australian band who released four singles before disbanding in 1968. I sourced a copy when researching this post and listened to it for the first time in over a decade.

 

I loved this compilation and played it many, many, many times over the years, until I upgraded from a Walkman to a portable CD player and eventually an iPod. Today's cover is an image of the CD edition from the net, with added 'psychedelic' backdrop. I'll still have the cassette somewhere in the attic, and I'll try to dig it out when I get around to posting side 2. Advance warning: the psychedelic link is even more tenuous on the flip side, as you get Jan & Dean and Chad & Jeremy, but it's still all good.

1) San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair): Scott Mckenzie (1967)

2) Eight Miles High: The Byrds (1966)

3) It's A Happening Thing: The Peanut Butter Conspiracy (1967)

4) Flower Children: Vyt & The World (1967)

5) Omaha: Moby Grape (1967)

6) Mellow Yellow: Donovan (1967)

7) Tighter: Paul Revere & The Raiders (1967)

8) White Rabbit (Live @ The Matrix, San Francisco): The Great Society with Grace Slick (1966)

Side One (26:06) (Box) (Mega)