Tasty Nuggets from Laurel Canyon to the Sunset Strip.
Videos by American Songwriter
Get ready for Nuggets, the LA edition. The renowned music series, which compiles and codifies the world’s finest psych-rock curios, will get an update with Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968. The four-disc set, containing over 100 songs, will be released by Rhino Records on September 22.
Co-Producer Andrew Sandoval explains the set’s concept in its liner notes: “…the Nuggets series is something of the alternative musical history of the 1960s. Not so much a survey of what happened, but more what could have happened had music charted on merit alone.”
Here’s the official word:
WHERE THE ACTION IS! compiles 101 tracks that mix many of the city’s brightest stars (The Byrds, Love, The Doors, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Captain Beefheart, The Mamas & The Papas, Lowell George, Iron Butterfly, The Monkees) with talented artists whose stellar songcraft sadly flew under the radar (The Seeds, The Electric Prunes, Modern Folk Quintet, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Spirit, The Everpresent Fullness, Kaleidoscope, The Standells, The Bobby Fuller Four).
WHERE THE ACTION IS! encompasses four discs arranged thematically to cover different aspects of the pop, rock, club, and Top 40 sounds of the era. The first covers some of the most notable bands that performed in the clubs of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. Disc 2 features a sampling of the musicians who began life in South L.A., East L.A., and such far-flung suburbs as Riverside and Bakersfield. Disc 3 delves into the artistry of L.A.’s producers, arrangers, and Wrecking Crew of studio players. The final disc takes us from the nascent seeds of folk rock to the first blooms of canyon rock, country rock, and full-blown psychedelia in the region. It also shows how rock pioneers such as Del Shannon and Rick Nelson took their own stabs at fitting in with “the kids.”
Among the many highlights are an alternate take of The Beach Boys’ “Heroes And Villains,” Warren Zevon and producer Bones Howe performing “(You Used To) Ride So High” as The Motorcycle Abeline, “Take A Giant Step” by The Rising Sons, “Acid Head” by The Velvet Illusions, local scenester Kim Fowley’s “Underground Lady,” Jan & Dean’s “Fan Tan,” The Monkees’ “Daily Nightly,” Jesse Lee Kincaid’s “She Sang Hymns Out Of Tune,” “Come To The Sunshine” by Van Dyke Parks, “Sister Marie” by Nilsson, and “Hippy Elevator Operator” by The W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band.
The set also offers a trio of previously unreleased tracks: a recently discovered demo version of “Sit Down I Think I Love You,” recorded by Stephen Stills and Richie Furay shortly before they formed Buffalo Springfield; a demo of “Words” by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, one of the West Coast’s most successful songwriting teams; and “Once Upon A Time,” a collaboration between Tim Buckley and lyricist Larry Beckett.
WHERE THE ACTION IS! LOS ANGELES NUGGETS 1965-1968
Track Listing
Disc 1: On The Strip
1. “Riot On Sunset Strip” — The Standells
2. “You Movin'” — The Byrds
3. “You I’ll Be Following” — Love
4. “Dr. Stone” — The Leaves
5. “Go And Say Goodbye” — Buffalo Springfield
6. “Zig Zag Wanderer” — Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
7. “Gentle As It May Seem” — Iron Butterfly
8. “Candy Cane Madness” — Lowell George & The Factory
9. “If You Want This Love” — The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
10. “Baby My Heart” — The Bobby Fuller Four
11. “All Night Long” — The Palace Guard
12. “It’s Gonna Rain” — Sonny & Cher
13. “For My Own” — The Guilloteens
14. “Take A Giant Step” — The Rising Sons
15. “One Too Many Mornings” — The Association
16. “Time Waits For No One” — The Knack
17. “Take It As It Comes” — The Doors
18. “Pulsating Dream” — Kaleidoscope
19. “Tripmaker” — The Seeds
20. “The People In Me” — The Music Machine
21. “Saturday’s Son” — The Sons Of Adam
22. “Eventually” — The Peanut Butter Conspiracy
23. “Swim” — Penny Arkade
24. “The Third Eye” — The Joint Effort
25. “Girl In Your Eye” — Spirit
Disc 2: Beyond The City
1. “Jump, Jive & Harmonize” — Thee Midniters
2. “Back Up” — The Light
3. “To Die Alone” — The Bush
4. “Get On This Plane” — The Premiers
5. “Little Girl, Little Boy” — The Odyssey
6. “Hideaway” — The Electric Prunes
7. “Listen, Listen!” — The Merry-Go-Round
8. “She Done Moved” — The Spats
9. “Grim Reaper Of Love” — The Turtles
10. “See If I Care” — Ken & The Fourth Dimension
11. “He’s Not There Anymore” — The Chymes
12. “Back Seat ’38 Dodge” — Opus 1
13. “Eternal Prison” — The Humane Society
14. “Revenge” — The Others
15. “Come Alive” — Things To Come
16. “Acid Head” — The Velvet Illusions
17. “Guaranteed Love” — Limey & The Yanks
18. “Love’s The Thing” — The Romancers (aka The Smoke Rings)
19. “Underground Lady” — Kim Fowley
20. “Pretty Little Thing” — The Deepest Blue
21. “You’re Wishin’ I Was Someone Else” — The Whatt Four
22. “Hippy Elevator Operator” — The W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band
23. “That’s For Sure” — The Mustangs
24. “Tomorrow’s Girl” — Fapardokly (Merrell & The Exiles)
25. “Everything’s There” — The Hysterics
26. “Our Time Is Running Out” — The Yellow Payges
Disc 3: The Studio Scene
1. “Action, Action, Action” — Keith Allison
2. “The Rebel Kind” — Dino, Desi & Billy
3. “High On Love” — The Knickerbockers
4. “Fan Tan” — Jan & Dean
5. “Halloween Mary” — P.F. Sloan
6. “Somebody Groovy” — The Mamas & The Papas
7. “Daydreaming” — Thorinshield
8. “Just Can’t Wait” — The Full Treatment
9. “Yellow Balloon” — The Yellow Balloon
10. “The Times To Come” — London Phogg
11. “No More Running Around” — The Lamp Of Childhood
12. “Little Girl Lost-And-Found” — The Garden Club
13. “Mothers And Fathers” — The Moon
14. “My Girlfriend Is A Witch” — October Country
15. “Montage Mirror” — Roger Nichols Trio
16. “Flower Eyes” — Pasternak Progress
17. “Come Down” — The Common Cold
18. “Jill” — Gary Lewis & The Playboys
19. “Daily Nightly” — The Monkees
20. “Night Time Girl” — Modern Folk Quintet
21. “Don’t Say No” — The Oracle
22. “Tin Angel (Will You Ever Come Down)” — Hearts And Flowers
23. “Rainbow Woman” — Lee Hazlewood
24. “Poor Old Organ Grinder” — Pleasure featuring Billy Elder
25. “Baby, Please Don’t Go” — The Ballroom
Disc 4: New Directions
1. “Sit Down I Think I Love You” — Stephen Stills & Richie Furay*
2. “Splendor In The Grass” — Jackie DeShannon with The Byrds
3. “November Night” — Peter Fonda
4. “Roses And Rainbows” — Danny Hutton
5. “Lemon Chimes” — The Dillards
6. “Here’s Today” — The Rose Garden
7. “I Love How You Love Me” — Nino Tempo & April Stevens
8. “Words” (Demo) — Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart*
9. “(You Used To) Ride So High” — The Motorcycle Abeline (Warren Zevon & Bones Howe)
10. “Los Angeles” — Gene Clark
11. “Once Upon A Time” — Tim Buckley*
12. “Darlin’ You Can Count On Me” — The Everpresent Fullness
13. “I’ll Search The Sky” — The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
14. “Come To The Sunshine” — Van Dyke Parks
15. “Heroes And Villains” (Alternate Take) — The Beach Boys
16. “She Sang Hymns Out Of Tune” — Jesse Lee Kincaid
17. “Sister Marie” — Nilsson
18. “Last Night I Had A Dream” (Single Version) — Randy Newman
19. “Life Is A Dream” — Noel Harrison
20. “Marshmallow Skies” — Rick Nelson
21. “I Think I Love You” — Del Shannon
22. “Change Is Now” — The Byrds
23. “The Truth Is Not Real” (Single Version) — Sagittarius
24. “You Set The Scene” — Love
25. “Inner-Manipulations” — Barry McGuire
*Previously unreleased
