In its follow-up to ‘March Of The Flower Children: The American Sounds of 1967’ Grapefruit Records has issued a four hour, three disc box set titled ‘Can’t Seem To Come Down: The American Sounds of 1968’.

The compilation amasses seventy nine tracks, encompassing the gamut of rock genres, including bubble gum, folk, country, hard,and psychedelic, while blending well known with obscure artists, mixing single and album tracks alike. A daunting task to say the least, and while open to discussion regarding the inclusion or omission of specific artists and tracks, the collection speaks for itself, with much credit due compiler and annotator David Wells.

Disc one opens with well known and respected California rockers, Spirit, featuring the guitar work of Randy California and vocals of Jay Ferguson on a track ‘Fresh Garbage’, aimed at the state of the ecology, taken from their self-titled debut album. The disc’s twenty seven tracks contain folk rock from artists such as The Byrds delivering their anti-Vietnam War anthem ‘Draft Day’, Bob Dylan doing the original version of his much covered ‘All Along The Watchtower’, andTom Rush performing ‘No Regrets’. Familiar pop rock is represented by late 50s/early 60s icons Del Shannon with ‘Silver Birch’ and Brian Hyland’s ‘Delilah’. Hard rock appearances include Steppenwolf’s ‘Everybody’s Next One’ and The Grateful Dead’s ‘Dark Star’ in addition to the previously mentioned Spirit. Pop psych is represented by familiar artists such as Strawberry Alarm Clock doing ‘Pretty Song From Psych Out’, The Lemon Pipers’ ‘The Shoemakers Of Leatherware Square’, and The Merry-Go-Round featuring Emmit Rhodes on ‘Come Ride, Ccme Ride’, as well as lesser known acts Children Of The Mushrooms’ ‘You Can’t Erase A Mirror’ and Diamond Rings with ‘Which End Is Up’. Heavy psych artists include The Savage Resurrection doing ‘Thing In E’, Things To Come with ‘Come Alive’, and Spontaneous Combustion’s ‘Freaky Girl’. Well known, but difficult to categorize acts include The Velvet Underground with ‘Here She Comes’, The Mothers Of Invention doing ‘Who Needs The Peace Corps’, and The United States Of America’s rendition of ‘The Garden Of Earthly Delights’. More obscure artists presented include Mortimer with ‘Dedicated Music Men’, The Baroque Monthly’s delivery ‘You Are Your Only Mystery’ and Ars Nova doing ‘Fields Of People’, best remembered for its cover by Roy Wood and The Move.

Discs two carries on the precedent of the first, opening with a guitar driven hard rock gem by Florida’s We The People, the Tommy Talton penned ‘When I Arrive’. Bubble Gum legends, 1910 Fruitgum Co. follow with a non-bubble gum melodic rocker ‘(Poor Old) Mr. Jensen’. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band is represented by ‘Eighteen Is Over The Hill’ , a rather disturbing reminder of group songwriter Bob Markley’s obsession with young females. Lemon Fog’s ‘Summer’ is a gloomy, organ driven ode to boredom. Eternity’s Children deliver a melodic mid-tempo Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen produced take on the flower power influenced ‘Rupert White’. ‘Light Your Window’ from Quicksilver Messenger Service’s self-titled debut LP features snaky lead guitar work by John Cippolina. ‘Laughing Stock’ was one half of post-’Forever Changes’ Love’s final single, a fine effort sadly given little attention by Elektra Records, despite fine work by vocalist Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols. Musical pioneers Silver Apples’ electronic wizardry went virtually unnoticed on release, but their hypnotic ‘Oscillations’ is cited as an influence by many in 2024. ‘Shadows’ taken from the grindhouse thriller ‘The Name Of The Game’ sounds very much like The Doors, but was sadly given only promotional, not full, release as a single, probably due to the fact that lead vocalist James Lowe left The Electric Prunes just after its issue by Reprise Records. Following the dark rocker ‘You’re In My Mind’ by Graf Zeppelin the disc takes a definite turn toward gentle, melodic tunes, with the harmonic ‘Dark Is The Bark’ by The Left Banke of ‘Walk Away Renee’ fame, ‘The Island’, by Millenium, a Curt Boettcher production featuring future Crabby Appleton vocalist Mike Fennelly, and the moody ‘Wheel Of Changes’ by The Wind In The Willows. The tunes move uptempo beginning with the heavy rocking, sitar and organ driven ‘Lantern Gospel’ by The World Gospel, followed by The Band’s ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’ co-written by bassist/vocalist Rick Danko and Bob Dylan, featured on the group’s groundbreaking Americana LP ‘Music From Big Pink’. Iron Butterfly’s 17 minute epic ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ is presented in its three minute single edit, which still packs plenty of punch thanks to Doug Ingle’s organ and Erik Braun’s guitar. The Movement’s ‘Green Knight’ is actually a reworking of Blind Willie Johnson’s ‘Lord I Just Can’t Keep From Crying’ turned into a fuzz guitar fueled garage rocker. The disc closes with the box set’s title track, recorded by Mother’s Worry, an organ driven mid-tempo bit of flower power highlighted by fuzz filled guitar intro and outro.

Disc three contains much heavier material compared to its predecessors, beginning with ‘Questions’ taken from Buffalo Springfield’s ‘Last Time Around’ LP and filled with hot guitar from composer Stephen Stills. The Seeds’ “Satisfy You’ is filled with fuzz guitar by Jan Savage, who plays the song out with a powerful solo. ‘Johann Sebastian Cheetah’ by The Yankee Dollar is reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane recordings, with gorgeous female vocals and fuzzed out electric guitar. The Fugs’ ‘Crystal Liaison’ is a light hearted heavy rocker. ‘Everything’s Changing ‘by Kak is awash with wah wah laden lead guitar from Dehner Patten and powerful vocals from Gary Lee Yoder. ‘Feathers From Your Tree’ from Blue Cheer follows with Leigh Stephens’ explosive guitar soaring over the rhythm section of Dickie Peterson and Paul Whaley. Mike Mullins’ heavy riff and lead line dominate ‘Last Day On Earth’ which he penned for Velvet Haze. ‘Daystar’ from SRC’s self-titled Capitol debut album roars, led by Gary Quackenbush’s guitar and brother Glenn’s Hammond organ. Nazz’s ‘Back Of Your Mind’ features Todd Rundgren’s lead line and a solo that soars over the band’s heavy riff. ‘Psychedelic Movement’ by The Ravelles again brings the Jefferson Airplane to mind, with its female vocals and fuzzed out guitar, supplemented by organ. The Yellow Payges’ ‘Crowd Pleaser’ is a hard rocker with lots of wah wah. The Moving Sidewalks cover of The Beatles’ ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ is a psychedelic gem, full of feedback and a roaring guitar solo outro. The tempo slows with ‘Hell Will Take Care Of Her’ a restrained Sgt. Pepper influenced, Beatlesque tune by Brass Buttons. ‘Turn Around’ is country rock by the Beau Brummels at its gentle, melodic best, taken from their ‘Bradley’s Barn’ LP. Merrell Fankhauser & H.M.S. Bounty’s ‘Rich Man’s Fable’ is melodic and features a tasty solo from Fankhauser as the band gets heavy. ‘Crimson & Clover’ by Tommy James & The Shondells is a nearly perfect single, with James singing and playing almost every instrument on the heavily phased tune which deservedly brought the band a second #1 hit. The disc, and box set, closes with ‘Can You Dig It’, taken from The Monkees swan song album, the soundtrack to the movie ‘Head’, which, although a commercial failure at the time has gained a cult following, while the tune itself melts into a trippy blending of sitars and guitars.

Each disc of ‘Can’t Seem To Come Down: The American Sounds of 1968’ comes in its own cardboard mini-LP replica sleeve which tuck tightly into a clamshell box. The set comes with a lavishly illustrated forty-eight page booklet, with full track annotations and biographical details by David Wells. The recordings sound incredible thanks to the mastering job of Simon Murphy. The set will appeal to fans of 1960s rock, psychedelic rock, classic rock and rock music in general.

Kevin Rathert

‘Can’t Seem To Come Down: The American Sounds of 1968’ (Grapefruit Records, 2024)