Aural Fixations

VARIOUS ARTISTS
What's Shakin'
Great Lost Elektra Singles Volume 1
(Collector's Choice)
Elektra Records has become known as one of the 60s' most innovative record companies, bringing cracker electric blues to the American masses before Clapton was God and taking chances on innovative acts like Love and the Doors. But it wasn't always thus. By the mid-60s, Elektra was known mainly for folk music, with Judy Collins as its major star. But the Paul Butterfield Blues Band put the company on the map as an advocate of electric rock, and the label wasted no time in reinforcing its presence with 1966's What's Shakin', which was put together out of tracks either lying unreleased in Elektra's vaults or offered to universally respected label head Jac Holzman. Elektra's major stars the Butterfield Band contribute five cut of its tough rocking blues, while folk stalwart Tom Rush sings Fats Domino's "I'm in Love Again." Al Kooper puts his heart and soul into Blind Willie Johnson's "Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes," working with a primitive version of what would become the Blues Project.

For collectors, though, the hot tracks come from outside the label's confines. The Lovin' Spoonful, then beginning its major run of hits on the Kama Sutra label, gives four cuts to the comp, in deference to the encouragement the band received from Holzman prior to its stardom. Rocking harder than it ever would again, the Spoonful sounds like it's having a ball on the otherwise unreleased originals "Good Time Music" (later a minor hit for the Beau Brummels) and "Don't Bank On It Baby," plus covers of the Coasters and Chuck Berry. Of even greater interest for 60s rock enthusiasts are the three tracks credited to Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse. The latter consisted of Spencer Davis Group singer Steve Winwood and drummer Pete York, Manfred Mann frontman Paul Jones (on harmonica), Bluesbreakers bassist Jack Bruce and, of course, Clapton himself. None of these musicians were huge in America—some, including Clapton, hadn't even been heard of yet. The ad-hoc studio band offers raw versions of "Crossroads" and "Steppin' Out" that are quite a bit different than the ones Clapton and Bruce would record with Cream, plus the original "I Want to Know" (probably written by Jones under his wife's name) that would be totally obscure if not for its subsequent cover by Ten Years After. Filled with some fine music and budding superstars, What's Shakin' functions now as a cool snapshot of what was happening in the 60s rock scene. [buy it]

Great Lost Elektra Singles Volume 1 collects, as the title makes plain, sides taken from 45s that either bombed commercially or were released in such limited editions as to make charting pointless. Judy Collins appears twice, with a pretty cover of Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine" that features then-Dylan sideman Al Kooper on organ and, more significantly, the B-side of her hit "Both Sides Now." Collins' first run through Sandy Denny's iconic "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" foregoes the rock trappings of her more famous version and is absolutely lovely. Then-folk star Phil Ochs forays into folk rock with an electric version of his antiwar singalong "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore," while the Butterfield Blues Band contributes one of its rare 45s, the R&B-flavored "Come On In." Holzman favorites that never rose from obscurity, international folk rock combo Eclection ("Mark Time") and theatrical songwriter David Ackles ("La Route a Chicago") also weigh in with sides, the latter a bizarre stab at French chart success.

Once again, however, the most notable tunes found here are from future stars in disguise. The Beefeaters offer two crystalline folk rock/pop songs, "Please Let Me Love You" and "Don't Be Long." If the vocal blend and ringing guitars sound familiar, it's because the Beefeaters was a pseudonym for the Byrds, whose Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn and David Crosby were still six months away from adding Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke and storming the charts with "Mr. Tambourine Man." "Don't Be Long" would later be rewritten and recorded as "It Won't Be Wrong." The Byrds influence also manifests in the eccentric Stalk-Forrest Group and its odd, but tuneful, psychedelic folk rock ditties "Arthur Comics" and "What is Quicksand?" This New York combo would alter its personnel a bit, crank up the amplifiers and find fame as the great American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult. Its devotion to unconventional songs, however, would remain; indeed, "Arthur Comics" doesn't sound appreciably different than BÖC's lighter side, with guitarist Buck Dharma's engaging vocals and soaring leads prominently featured. Elektra issued the single (in an extremely limited edition of about 300 copies), but passed on the album's worth of tracks the band recorded, which wouldn't see the light of day until the 2000s. At least these and the other singles sides featured here won't suffer the fate of growing mold in the vaults any longer. Michael Toland [buy it]