one year passes...
You asked for it Jeff...
Not sure whether the references are what you were after and I picked a lot of this stuff up from various websites, but I attempted the long and informative [?], so here it comes... Apologies in advance for errors and omissions.
Elektra between the dates you specify above went through quite a major evolution when in 1966 it quite consciously began to switch its attention from folk to rock, finding its biggest successes in West Coast California whence it was perceived may of the happening bands were emerging (Elektra founder Jac Holzman’s book Follow the Music details the story of the label he founded 52 years aged at age 19 with a mere $600). As a beginning; Elektra’s first release, a 500 pressing of ‘New Songs’ by John Gruen (Elektra EKLP-1) was recorded in 1950 and distributed (at a loss) in 1951.
Anyway, by the time of the 60’s Holzman had turned the ship around and Elektra was buzzing. The signing of Judy Collins in ‘61 was key to establishing Elektra as a major label. Though her first album ‘A Maid of Constant Sorrow’ (‘61) sold about five thousand copies and critics labelled her a Joan Baez clone, Holzman kept the faith and sanctioned work on her next album, ‘Golden Apples of the Sun’ (‘62). Holzman’s loyalty was repaid as Collins later developed into a critically acclaimed and commercially successful artist (six of her later albums went gold), 1966’s ‘In My Life’ is regarded by some to be the pick of the bunch though I gotta say, I actually don’t know her catalogue at all.
Another key moment occurred in 1965 when Elektra’s house producer Paul Rothchild signed the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (Holzman had always felt he missed out on signing Bob Dylan so he got the next best thing: Dylan’s backing band at that Newport show). The move signalled the label’s first foray into electric blues and the resultant eponymous LP, while loose as fuck, has been heralded of one of the best of Butterfield’s career. Also on Elektra, ‘East-West’ from 1966 is good but to date ‘The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw’ from ‘67 is my pick; a full horn section and plenty of kick, Butterfield and the boys fire on all cylinders, hello ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’, the standout track.
So, encouraged by Butterfield’s reception, Elektra then plunged into the fray with some aplomb financing the first studio excursions of members of what would later become the Byrds, and the Lovin’ Spoonful, as well as eyeing-up other acts creating a noise on the LA and San Fran circuits.
Then came Love. As soon as he caught them on the strip, Holzman knew he was onto a winner. He later wrote: "My heart skipped a beat. I had found my band!" Elektra even started a new numbering system with the first self-titled Love album [EKS-74001] and for the first time in the label’s history they issued a chart single with ‘My Little Red Book’. All four Love albums issued on Elektra are essential listening if you like yer rock. From ‘Love’ (‘66), ‘Da Capo’ (‘67), ‘Forever Changes’ (‘67) through to ‘Four Sail’ (‘69), Arthur Lee and company wrote some of the most defining music of the era as well as some of the most innovative, spaced-out and engaging rock music I’ve heard. ‘Forever Changes’ is the stand-out; prior to recording, the various members of Love were apparently so strung-out that Elektra wedged lee into a studio with a bunch of studio musicians. So out there were his ideas and compositions that the hired-hands couldn’t keep up and Elektra was forced to resume recording only as the rest of the drug-addled but nonetheless outraged band came to their senses.
In 1966, Holzman watched Love play the Whisky-a-Go-Go in LA. Supporting them was a blues based rock and roll band with a particularly energetic frontman and hot-shit organist on board. Lee recommended the group to Holzman, who was initially less than impressed. It took four shows to convince him, even though Rothchild, when he heard them, apparently thought the band was for shit. Yes, it could only be The Doors, he was talking about.
The Doors were arguably what made Elektra into major player, bringing in huge revenues. Holzman guilt-tripped the unwilling Rothchild into production duties on the band’s first album, apparently telling him "you owe me," and a week in the studio yielded the finished product that is one of the finest, fiery rock debuts. First single ‘Break on Through (To the Other Side)’ charted at a dismal 106 and straight away, Holzman supported his artists to the hilt and lined up ‘Light My Fire’, even though clocking at 7 minutes, it was way too long. The band said there was no way Elektra were releasing an edit, until Rothchild cut it down himself to roughly 3 minutes and they acquiesced. In June 1967, ‘Light My Fire’ reached the No.1 on the Billboard, becoming Elektra’s first chart topping single. The album repeated the trick, and The Doors have since gone on to sell over 45 million records for Elektra.
I don’t get why there’s so much hate for The Doors out there, especially when people who diss them will rate other rock and rollers like Zep and The Stones. To me, The Doors are part of what rock and roll is. Hey-ho, already been here before on these boards and got ripped up. But of course, all The Doors records are amazing, but from the Elektra set in the 60’s, I’d take ‘Strange Days’ (’67) and ‘The Soft Parade’ (‘69). The first has some amazing twists on it but the closer, ‘When the Music’s Over’, is a dark brooding mass of energy that lays me out every time; the latter is kind of odd and sticks out from The Doors canon on account of the orchestration, to me though, it may have the most cohesive feel to any of their records and I’d say contains the most surprises.
Search other Elektra artists:
Tim Buckley: ‘Goodbye and Hello’ (’67), ‘Blue Afternoon’ (’69), ‘Happy Sad’ (‘69), ‘Starsailor’ (’70).
Does Nick Drake count? He was signed by Joe Boyd, then the London-based head of Elektra Records Europe, although Boyd produced and sold his debut ‘Five Leaves Left’ (’69) on Witchseason, his own production, promotion and management company. A cute footnote: Boyd’s love of Drake’s art was highlighted when in 1971, he sold Witchseason to Island Records and went back to America, inserting a clause in the contract with Island that Drake’s records would never be deleted from their catalogue.
Tom Rush: eponymous Elektra debut (’65), ‘Take a Little Walk with Me’ (‘66), ‘The Circle Game’ (’68).
Nico: ‘The Marble Index’ [produced by Cale] (‘69).
Phil Ochs, Dylan’s old rival and once his friend and supporter, who later grew to hate the man who had eclipsed him at every turn. A little [semi-speculative] anecdote: nowhere was Ochs’ later jealousy (and instability) more evident than at Gerde’s in new York in ‘75, when a rambling Ochs apparently smuggled a knife into the gathering which included many of the winners and losers in the Rolling Thunder Revue lottery, as well as Bob, there to celebrate owner Mike Porco’s birthday. Only Ochs knew what he intended to do, but he was foiled by the eagle eyes Roland Moussa who found the blade and confiscated it. Certainly, Ochs was fishing for a spot on the Revue though his pride was cutting him, and Bob wasn’t buying in. Patti Smith who was there later said; "It was like there was a noose in the middle of the room, and they were circling round, trying to get each other to hang themselves." Neuwirth, Bob’s old partner in crime called out to a unravelling Ochs as he glared out from the stage; "C’mon Phil, we’re not making a snuff film" such was the atmosphere. Ochs hung himself in the following year and Dylan would feel some degree of guilt (and anger) at having pushed Ochs deeper into the realms of dark depression which would eventually claim his life: Search: ‘All the News That’s Fit to Sing’ (‘64), ‘I Ain’t Marching Anymore’ (’65), ‘In Concert’ (’66).
The Stooges, actually signed after Elektra A&R executive Danny Fields who was looking to snap up the MC5, was blown away by a live show; eponymous debut (’69), ‘Funhouse’ (‘70)
MC5, who proved too hot for Elektra to handle – the controversy which greeted Tyner’s war cry on their debut: "kick out the jams, motherfuckers" and the band’s response to a Hudson’s chain-store boycott; posters proclaiming "Fuck Hudson’s" was all too much for the label and they dropped the band after putting out an edited version of their debut. Regarded as a classic, ‘Kick Out The Jams’ (’69) seems to have everything you’d want from a hardcore rock record, but no matter how many times I listen to it, I just can’t get on with it. I find it ropy as fuck and though I can admire the energy and attitude, the tunes just aren’t there, whereas the Stooges just seem able to find that killer riff.
Clear Light, psychedelic band that included Cliff De Young (later an actor), Douglas Lubahn (later with Dreams, Riff Raff, also a session bass player/songwriter who played on three Doors albums), and Dallas Taylor (drummer with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young); eponymous debut album (’67)
Jackson Browne, signed a publishing deal with Elektra sometime in ‘67 and recorded some material which went unreleased I think, probably available on bootleg somewhere…
And as for Destroy:
I’ll take The Incredible ‘Ping’ Band with me into Hades.
ps. Jeff: You owe me a big boy on Harper.
― Roger Fascist (Roger Fascist), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
fifteen years pass...