Elektra Records Spotlight: MC5 - Kick Out The Jams

Day five of our Elektra Records love-fest has us traveling to Michigan.

Elektra's PR man, Danny Fields, was visiting the working class city of Detroit in the Summer of 1968 when he took in a show by a Motor City band that had already released two singles on local labels. With The Doors over a year into their legacy, Elektra Records had real skin in the game and could once and for all be considered a real national label. So when Danny Fields came to your show, it was bound to turn some heads. MC5, with their alleged propulsive live shows and radical left political proselytizing had already been lauded by members of Cream and by Rolling Stone Magazine.

Based on one performance, Fields called back to Los Angeles and told Jac Holzman to sign the band on the spot and unheard. Holzman did just that, wiring Fields $15,000 to sign them on the spot. Further, Holzman and producer Paul Rothchild agreed with MC5's and Danny Fields' suggestion to not go into a studio, but rather record their first album entirely live. Over the course of two days -- October 30th and 31st -- MC5 recorded their debut album at the Grand Ballroom in Detroit in front of a live audience.

Individually they were Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith on guitar, Michael Davis on bass, Dennis Thompson on drums and Rob Tyner on vocals. Collectively they were a punch in the face. Elektra picked the second song of their set, Kick Out The Jams, for the band's major label debut released on December 26th, 1968. The release truly marks a seminal moment in rock-n-roll history. MC5 sounded like nobody else. They were creating a brand new sound. A sound that is universally heralded as the father of Punk Rock. The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and, most transparently, The Damned all grew out of the rib that was MC5.

Kick Out The Jams showed just how fast the band evolved from their first recordings dating back to 1966. And it showed how radical Elektra Records was willing to be. The label was already pushing the envelope with the subversive and hard to control, The Doors. Now they were just flat out ripping that envelope up. Despite the label editing the now infamous introduction to Kick Out The Jams for the single release, the record was immediately banned by a major retailer in Detroit who feared MC5's political insurrection would cause a backlash at the department store. MC5 doubled down and took out full page ads denouncing the department store as capitalist pigs. In the end it was too much for Elektra Records and they dropped the band after the first album. But it was too late. The new sound was out - a very Detroit sound, I might add -- and the groundwork for the future of rock-n-roll was set with this simple little release on Elektra Records. So, right now, right now, let's....Kick Out The Jams mother fuckers!

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Elektra Records Spotlight: The Doors - Break on Through and End of the Night

Break On Through

End Of The Night

Day four of our Elektra Records spotlight has us, perhaps predictably, moving from Love to The Doors. The two bands were closely tied and it was in fact members of Love that first brought The Doors to the attention of Jac Holzman and Paul Rothchild in the Spring of 1966. It would be a fateful introduction for all involved.

It was immediately clear to all that Elektra Records had something bigger on hand than anything they had ever had before. The Doors were the complete package: charisma, sound, musicianship, songwriting skills, willing to tour and work hard. Perhaps sensing they had finally got one over on Columbia and Capitol records, Elektra Records put everything they had into the band including preferential treatment for studio time and marketing dollars. Elektra would give the band a picture sleeve for the debut single and they even filmed the band on stage to make a video to promote the new band. Not exactly a common move in 1967. Meanwhile, the agoraphobic Love would languish in the mountains above Hollywood, literally looking down at a billboard promoting The Doors' inaugural album. Arthur Lee and his band would be left to watch The Doors make the circuit of TV shows promoting their explosive debut single, Break On Through.

The prophetically titled Break On Through, primarily composed by guitarist Robbie Krieger, was released in February of 1967, weeks after the release of the album and seven months after the song was recorded. The Flip-Side of the debut single, End Of The Night, also appeared on the debut album. It's a gentle number that really showcased Robbie Krieger's under appreciated guitar skills.  

Shout out to staff engineer Bruce Botnick and producer Paul Rothchild for elevating these recordings to a new level. 

Elektra Records Spotlight: Love - Stephanie Knows Who and Orange Skies

Stephanie Knows Who

Orange Skies

Elektra Records...day three. 

Day one of this series talked about how Elektra President, Jac Holzman, narrowly missed out on the hottest band on the Sunset Strip due to a moment of hesitation (you can read that article here). Day two talked about how staff producer, Paul Rothchild, flew to Chicago to sign a racially-mixed buzz-creating band before they could get stolen away. (you can read that article here). But that band wasn't about to become hit makers. Not by a long shot.

Day three has us here, learning from those two experiences and filled with Love. 

Elektra Records combined their first two forays into the world of rock-n-roll and finally got the rock band they were looking for on their third attempt. A bona fide Sunset Strip sensation (like The Byrds) and racially mixed band (like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) who created songs like few others could. The band was Love and featured a roadie from The Byrds and a charismatic frontman in Arthur Lee. The band hit it right out of the gate for Elektra Records with their massive reimagining of Burt Bacharach's My Little Red Book. That single charted at No. 52 nationally and finally gave Elektra a rack upon which they could hang their hat. They were real players with a real rock band.

Paul Rothchild and Jac Holzman gave the band great latitude to experiment in the studio. That resulted in one of the wildest (and complicated to record) singles in Love's impressive sophomore release, Lee's A-bomb of a song, 7&7 is.... 

We feature today the first pressing of the band's third single for Elektra Records. This single was released in October of 1966 as Stephanie Knows Who with a Flip-Side of Orange Skies. Two weeks later the single was unceremoniously withdrawn and Stephanie Knows Who was replaced with the more radio friendly, She Comes In Colors. All three songs appeared on the band's wonderful second full length album, Da Capo.

Stephanie Knows Who was written by Arthur Lee and tells the tale of a girl with whom he was rather smitten. According to an interview with Johnny Echols in Ugly Things Magazine, Stephanie had a way about her that had many in the band fawning over her. She used to string along Arthur Lee pretty good and in turn she was his muse for both this song, and the replacement A-Side. The Flip-Side was written by rhythm guitarist, Bryan MacLean, the former roadie for The Byrds. Arthur sings over Bryan's usual saccharine lyrics and is able to pull them off with sincerity. Not easy to do when you have stanzas about cotton candy! Who knows, perhaps Stephanie may have been the muse here again.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Elektra Records Spotlight: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Mellow Down Easy and I Got My Mojo Working

Mellow Down Easy

I Got My Mojo Working

Day two at our look at Elektra Records. Yesterday we looked at the missed opportunity Elektra Records president, Jac Holzman, had in his hands when he released only one song by The Byrds...under the quizzically named The Beefeaters. Columbia Records came and stole the band away from his light grasp on what would become a hit machine and a hugely influential band. It took 11 months before Holzman would get back in the saddle with another release.

In October of 1965 Elektra released the first published recording of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. The Chicago band had been turning heads in Chicago for about a year and Holzman and staff producer, Paul Rotchild, were eager to not let another buzz creating band slip away. It also bears noting that the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was a band of three white guys and two black guys. May not seem like a big deal today, but it was in 1965. It was downright unusual and even a little risky for a little known label to market them. Paul Butterfield was the frontman and harmonica player, Elvin Bishop on rhythm guitar, Mike Bloomfield on lead guitar, Jerome Arnold on bass and Sam Lay on drums. The latter two had done time in Howlin' Wolf's house band and thus had some serious street creditionals.

That first Elektra single for The Paul Butterfield Blues Band were two blues covers of Chess Recordings songs. The A-Side was Mellow Down Easy, a number originally recorded by Little Walter in 1954. The Flip-Side is the Muddy Waters standard, I Got My Mojo Working, first laid down in 1957. Sam Lay takes the vocal duties on The Paul Butterfield Blues Band's recording.

[Of note, also on that first 1965 album, was the first recording of Born In Chicago, which we featured just last week by a band called The Blue Beats. Check that out here]

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!