Customer Reviews

Stockholm '67

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Electric Prunes' studio albums are pretty ethereal and arty, so you might be shocked at the Raw Power displayed on this aural document. Soundwise, it has more in common with The Who's Live at Leeds than any garage or psychedelic record you can think of from the '67 era. It's still very psychedelic, but seriously heavy. As the other reviewers noted, the sound quality is great -- what's amazing is that the band seemed to think that the recording didn't capture their full energy and power!

It starts off with a smokin' version of "You never had it better" with a wicked guitar solo. You also get strong versions of their better known songs, including the infamous "I had too much to dream last night," plus psychedelicized versions of blues standards "Smokestack lightning" and "I got my mojo working." It ends with a deliciously extended rave-up on "Get me to the world on time," wherein the Prunes raise up a massive "Sister Ray"-ish wall of speaker-melting feedback. Essential.

First off, the Electric Prunes were cursed with a name that became a joke back in the '60's. Made sense at the time, but never made it thru the '70's with anything approaching dignity intact. 2) Mass in F Minor was a major mistake. Pompous, pretentious, over the top. But their first garage classics - "I Had Too Much Too Dream Last Night," and "Get Me To The World On Time" I played over & over until the 45 rpm singles' grooves went grey. Since then, they are now enshrined on the awesome and mighty Nuggets Anthology. I never saw them live until Little Steven resurrected them for his Underground Garage Festival in 2004. For their brief time onstage, they made the ground rumble. You could feel the fuzztone, feedback, and bass lines come up from the earth under your feet. I left the festival, and next day, went to their website where I discovered "Stockholm '67". In this I found the motherlode. Unbeknownst to me, the Electric Prunes were the best American rave-up psychedelic punk meisters to ever grace a stage. "Try Me On for Size," "Smokestack Lightning," "You Never Had It Better" will rip the joint. As for their own 1 1/2 hits - "I Had Too Much To Dream..." & "Get Me To The World..." they tear them apart & rebuild them from inside out. I can't help playing them at 11 and having the neighbors bang on the walls. Great stuff! Ferocious garage!

The Electric Prunes' 'Stockholm 67' is touted in some circles, in particular on their own web site, as "perhaps the finest live recording of the psychedelic era". That must be notwithstanding works by artists such as Cream and Jimi Hendrix, but The Prunes certainly demonstrate on this December 1967 set that they possessed great, though unrealized potential beyond their two-trick pony facade.

The E.P.'s are best known for their November 1966 single, 'I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)', which by January of 1967 had progressed to a number 11 hit in North America. In April of the Summer of Love, they followed up their initial success with a minor hit, 'Get Me To the World On Time', which charted at number 27. The performance and recording of 'I Had Too Much..." is easily the best track on this disc. The opener, 'You Never Had It Better' possesses an addictive guitar riff that makes it the second best song on the CD. The band starts seriously cooking in their 'garage-punk' style with 'Try Me On For Size', takes a brief respite with the Gerry Goffin/Carole King compostion 'I Happen To Love You', originally written for The Monkees, and burn through the remainder of their set in blues-rock mode with four sizzlers, including Preston Foster's 'Got My Mojo Workin' and Chester Burnett's 'Smokestack Lightning'. The musicianship is surprisingly good here, simply because you expect so little from a relatively obscure, mid-1960's band with just 1 and 1/2 hits. Ken Williams' fuzz-tone guitar is turned up to maximum blast, and James Lowe provides consistantly strong vocals. Quint's drumming, Mark Tulin's bass, and Mike Gannon's second guitar form a hard-driving rhythm section that exudes confidence. Given that the year is late 1967, the recording is exceptionally well done, with only the vocals on a couple tracks seemingly in need of strengthening.

Credit for the high quality of this recording belongs primarily to the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, who asked the band for permission to make the recording, and when they were turned down made it anyway. The band was wrapping up a long (and as it turned out, their only) overseas tour, and had abandoned much of their experimental psychedelia which had not been well received in Europe. The pseudo-psychedelic/blues-rock result is reminiscient of The Jefferson Airplane with a male lead singer. Portions of the complete show were broadcast over Swedish radio in 1968, probably accounting for the low-quality bootleg that has circulated for decades.

In 1997 the master tapes from the concert were uncovered and released on vinyl and CD, and again on CD in 2002. The track listings are different, with the 1997 disc featuring 'Are You Loving Me More (But Enjoying It Less)', while the 2002 disc replaces that track with 'Try Me On For Size'. One other track performed that evening, 'Dr. Do Good' appears on neither of the official releases.

You're going to like this if you're into a loud version of 1960's, distorted, semi-psychedelic guitar work, not unlike some of Neil Young's more impassioned work. If you shop around, a cardboard gatefold import version of the disc can be had for under seven dollars. It's every bit as heavy as Iron Butterfly ever wanted to be, and well worth at least a listen, if not a space on your CD shelf.

I read the previous customer reviews of this CD and enjoyed many of the Electric Prunes' songs on their first two albums, so decided to pick up this live CD as well. I was blown away. I can't believe this group put on this type of overpowering live show in 1967. If they had appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival and been included in the movie with this type of performance, they'd be considered one of the major rock groups from that era. It's also surprising that shortly after this music was recorded in December 1967, the group fell apart and was replaced by management with all different members. Why didn't they get more credit from the rock press or teen publications at the time?
I knew that some of these recordings had been previously issued on a bootleg many years back, but never saw the actual bootleg LP. I expected since these recordings were taped for radio broadcast this would be monophonic, radio-quality sound. I was surprised it's in stereo and the sound quality is excellent.
Surprising is the word I keep using, and any fan of 1960's rock music needs to buy this CD. To me the sound of the Electric Prunes lead quitarist Ken Williams on this CD is a cross between San Francisco rock guitarists from bands such as Jeff Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish (and even reminds me of the "Sacred Cows" mythical group that appeared on the "Get Smart" TV show "Groovy Guru" episode). The musicianship is all great.
The hard-driving, take-no-prisoners killer rock played by the Electric Prunes on this CD from 1967 will make your jaw drop.
One cool comment by lead singer Jim Lowe on the CD is when he references the Monkees, preceding the Carole King-Gerry Goffin song "I Happen to Love You" . He says the song was written for the Monkees, which the Prunes got because the Monkees didn't want it. He doesn't run down the Monkees like some of the new rock press and even some other acts did in the following years, and his comments are dignified and respectful toward another rock group. Like the Prunes, the Monkees also recorded in Los Angeles in 1967.

I was in my local indie record shop and heard this CD blasting out of the speakers. I thought it was incredible. I have never heard of this band, and I don't know a thing about them. The music speaks for itself.

It reminds me of a cross between "Swlabr" by Cream mixed with the energy of the Stooges' "Funhouse" album. I can't believe that this was in '67! The recording quality is fantastic. It's psychedelic with a bit of an edge. It has some fantastic long solos by talented musicians exploring their sound. If you like the live albums by Cream, The Doors, and early Deep Purple; then you MUST pick up this CD.

Remarkable live album from the late 60's!
To be honest with you I had never heard of those guys before, and just bought the cd because I found both cover and name cool.
I was expecting something along the line of LOVE or THE ANIMALS but certainly not an overdrived version of THE DOORS flirtin' with THE STONES or MC5!
The sound of the cd is great-how can such old recordings sound better than some brand new live albums is beyond me...
No overdubs on this one, it's LIVE with energy, sweat and rock'n'roll all along.
The intro scarred me a little at first...artsy fartsy psychadelic intro, I though no please not another Velvet Underground clone...but no.
Get ready for some action, the prunes ARE electric!

When I FIRST found that this archive CD was EVEN available and in existence,I was truly delighted.I've ALWAYS loved the Electric Prunes as I remember seeing their clip on the Smothers Brothers Comedy hour when I was,like ten.'Stockholm 67' is another one of those fabulous unreleased 'just discovered' CD's that is a must-have for any true fan of the psychedlia genre.It's an eight track/45 minute length disc that I could honestly listen to,perhaps every other day.It's THAT good.It's available on both the mini-lp version and regular jewel box.Vocalist James Lowe and company simply never sounded better.Thoroughly enjoyed hearing "I Had To Much To Dream","Try Me On For Size",the garage rock standard "I Got My Mojo Working","Long Day's Flight" and "Get Me To The World On Time"(loved the clip for this tune on the Smothers Bros. show).Not sure if this title is tough to find or not.Recommended.

Aside from "Metallic K.O." by Iggy and the Stooges, this is the best live recording from the 60's and 70's of a band at their absolute peak.

Bow down and worship the greatness of the Electric Prunes. No longer should they be regarded as one-hit wonders, or a band in a Nuggets collection. No. The Prunes prove here that they were one of the hardest, hardest working and tightest bands of the time.

Prepare for the long and non-lucid jams which twirl around and around and float up into the sky and explode with pure maniac excitement. To hear them performing "I Just Happen to Love You" or to encourage the audience to shout out curse words in their native language or apologizing for war is to get as close as any of us will ever get to those few shining moments of rock and roll when it seemed like even the little guys would succeed....

sadly, such is not the case, the prunes dissolved into a strange mess and then someone bought their name and made religious music with it. Go figure. So, do yourself and mankind a favor....buy this album, build the world's largest and loudest sound system and play this at maximum volume as the missles fall....

they would have wanted it that way...

This is a must for any Prunes fan as it shows the guys were not only excellent studio musicians but could actually cut it live! This is raw with bags of energy thrown in for good measure and is the only chance of hearing what these guys could do on stage.

I purchased this CD based on the reviews. While I don't think it's all that the hype would lead you to believe, it's still a pretty great album. If you're trying to decide, ignore the hype and buy it on its own merits. It's worth it.