{"id":8824,"date":"2011-08-22T23:30:04","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T03:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=8824"},"modified":"2011-09-05T16:57:48","modified_gmt":"2011-09-05T20:57:48","slug":"once-and-for-all-round-2-side-1-the-electric-prunes-vs-side-4-the-nazz-divisional-playoffs-featuring-anecdotes-from-the-electric-prunes%e2%80%99-james-lowe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/once-and-for-all-round-2-side-1-the-electric-prunes-vs-side-4-the-nazz-divisional-playoffs-featuring-anecdotes-from-the-electric-prunes%e2%80%99-james-lowe\/","title":{"rendered":"<em>Once and for All:<\/em> Round 2, Side 1 (The Electric Prunes) vs Side 4 (The Nazz) Divisional Playoffs, Featuring Anecdotes from The Electric Prunes\u2019 James Lowe!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"menu\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/rocktownhall.com\/onceandfornuggets.swf\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/rocktownhall.com\/onceandfornuggets.swf\" menu=\"false\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s showtime! Round 2 of the <strong>Nuggets Divisional Series<\/strong> (NDS) gets underway with a SHOWDOWN between the winners of <strong>albums sides 1 vs 4<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Electric Prunes&#8217; &#8220;I Had Too Much to Dream Last&#8221;<\/strong> night lived up to its top-seed status by outlasting a tough Side 1 field that included The Standells&#8217; &#8220;Dirty Water,&#8221; The Knickerbockers&#8217; &#8220;Lies,&#8221; and The Strangeloves&#8217; &#8220;Night Time.&#8221; This stomping psychedelic classic, in my opinion, outdid the mighty Rolling Stones in\u00a0that\u00a0legendary band&#8217;s\u00a0efforts at recording a &#8220;turned on&#8221; classic.<\/p>\n<p>The Prunes&#8217;\u00a0scene-setting album opener\u00a0will go up against <strong>The Nazz&#8217; &#8220;Open My Eyes,&#8221;<\/strong> which jumped to an early lead against the compilation&#8217;s least-gripping songs and easily outdistanced a late challenge from The Premiers&#8217; &#8220;Farmer John.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Efforts to reach &#8220;Open My Eyes&#8221; composer <strong>Todd Rundgren<\/strong> were unsuccessful, as he could not risk missing his hair salon appointment for touching up his blond highlights, but <strong>James Lowe<\/strong>, lead vocalist and autoharpist of The Electric Prunes responded to Rock Town Hall&#8217;s questions regarding the creation of his band&#8217;s masterpiece. No joke! Check out his excellent anecdotes&#8230;<em>after the jump!<\/em> And vote for the winner of\u00a0our first NDS\u00a0match-up!<\/p>\n<div id=\"polls-123\" class=\"wp-polls\">\n\t\t<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>SHOWDOWN (choose one): What's the BETTER song between the division winners of sides 1 and 4 of the original Nuggets?<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"polls-123-ans\" class=\"wp-polls-ans\"><ul class=\"wp-polls-ul\">\n\t\t<li>The Electric Prunes, \"I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night\" (Side 1) <small>(62%, 41 Votes)<\/small><div class=\"pollbar\" style=\"width: 62%;\" title=\"The Electric Prunes, &quot;I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night&quot; (Side 1) (62% | 41 Votes)\"><\/div><\/li>\n\t\t<li>The Nazz, \"Open My Eyes\" (Side 4) <small>(38%, 25 Votes)<\/small><div class=\"pollbar\" style=\"width: 38%;\" title=\"The Nazz, &quot;Open My Eyes&quot; (Side 4) (38% | 25 Votes)\"><\/div><\/li>\n\t\t<\/ul><p style=\"text-align: center;\">Total Voters: <strong>66<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" id=\"poll_123_nonce\" name=\"wp-polls-nonce\" value=\"14e2b9fc67\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"polls-123-loading\" class=\"wp-polls-loading\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-polls\/images\/loading.gif\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading ...\" title=\"Loading ...\" class=\"wp-polls-image\" \/>&nbsp;Loading ...<\/div>\n\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8851\" style=\"width: 394px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8851\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8851  \" title=\"EP American 66\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/EP-American-66.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"384\" height=\"269\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/EP-American-66.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/EP-American-66-300x210.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-8851\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Electric Prunes&#39; at American Recordings during recording of &quot;Too Much to Dream Last Night&quot; (1966), L to R: Preston Ritter (drums), Mark Tulin (bass). Ken Williams (lead guitar), James Lowe (vocals), Dave Hassinger (producer). Photo courtesy of James Lowe.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Rock Town Hall contacted The Electric Prunes to see if they might share their\u00a0memories on the making of their\u00a0Nuggets classic, &#8220;I Had Too Much to Dream Last\u00a0Night,&#8221; and vocalist\/autoharpist James Lowe, the guy with the cool shades in the bonus clip\u00a0we posted last week, wrote\u00a0the following tales from Europe. Thanks, James!<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The Electric Prunes had gotten a one release deal with Reprise\u00a0Records, and our first single &#8220;Ain&#8217;t It Hard&#8221; had flopped. We were\u00a0dropped from the label but given one more chance to record something\u00a0that would chart. Annette Tucker and Nancy Mantz had written a mild\u00a0country song, &#8220;I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night),&#8221; and Dave\u00a0Hassinger, our producer, liked the title. I am not sure he had even\u00a0listened to the demo he gave us. &#8220;See if you can do something with\u00a0this,&#8221; was his directive. We went through the lead sheet and made\u00a0notes like, <em>crash here<\/em>, <em>noooooo<\/em> yell, <em>break break break<\/em>&#8230; We rehearsed\u00a0sections of the song as we came up with an arrangement; but i am not\u00a0sure we ever played it in total. Only sections.<\/p>\n<p>For tech heads the song was recorded on an Ampex 4-track machine at\u00a0American Recording in North Hollywood. We did it in pieces, playing\u00a0up to each break and stopping tape. The drums breaks were added last\u00a0and edited in. Once we had the body of the song I added a lead vocal\u00a0and a reverse fuzz guitar was added. We wanted the song to &#8220;float,&#8221;\u00a0and a rubbery fuzz backward guitar popping out here and there with a\u00a0tremolo rhythm guitar under it took the song to another level. Mark\u00a0Tulin wrote the measures out backward for lead guitarist Ken Williams\u00a0and tried to keep him appraised of where he was in the song as the\u00a0tape played. Back then we had to turn the tape around and actually\u00a0record against the backward track. It was very easy to get lost. I\u00a0remember about halfway through Mark couldn&#8217;t figure out where he was\u00a0and just walked back into the control room in the middle of the take\u00a0and waved &#8220;good luck&#8221; to Ken. Ken&#8217;s licks and dripping fuzz-buzz\u00a0sound were magic from the start, and it was done in one take. We had\u00a0discussed a &#8220;dream&#8221; sound for the intro but had never really said\u00a0exactly what that was? A few weeks before we had been rehearsing up\u00a0at Leon Russel&#8217;s house and a recording accident gave us that crazy\u00a0&#8220;bumble bee&#8221; intro sound at the top of the song. We cut that piece of\u00a0tape off and brought it to the recording session at American for\u00a0TMTDLN. When we edited it in It just seemed like it belonged as the\u00a0intro to that song.<\/p>\n<p>People have asked if we knew TMTDLN was a &#8220;hit&#8221; when we recorded it,\u00a0and the answer is no. We played it for numerous people and they just\u00a0thought it was &#8220;weird.&#8221; &#8220;Where would you get something like that\u00a0played?&#8221; a record executive asked. It took a long time for the song\u00a0to catch on and garner play on AM radio stations. We thought it was\u00a0another flop; but it finally found an audience in a Seattle radio\u00a0station with Pat O&#8217; Day. Reprise allowed us to stay.<\/p>\n<p>I had never heard of the &#8220;Nuggets&#8221; compilation until 5 years after\u00a0its release. Thanks, Lenny Kaye!<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; James Lowe<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_8852\" style=\"width: 373px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8852\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8852\" title=\"EP postcard2 front\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/EP-postcard2-front.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"363\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/EP-postcard2-front.jpg 454w, https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/EP-postcard2-front-212x300.jpg 212w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 363px) 100vw, 363px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-8852\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Postcard courtesy of James Lowe.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s showtime! Round 2 of the Nuggets Divisional Series (NDS) gets underway with a SHOWDOWN between the winners of albums sides 1 vs 4. The Electric Prunes&#8217; &#8220;I Had Too Much to Dream Last&#8221; night lived up to its top-seed status by outlasting a tough Side 1 field that included The Standells&#8217; &#8220;Dirty Water,&#8221; The <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/once-and-for-all-round-2-side-1-the-electric-prunes-vs-side-4-the-nazz-divisional-playoffs-featuring-anecdotes-from-the-electric-prunes%e2%80%99-james-lowe\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[44,511,512,223,88,502,503,99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}