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(Just wouldn't be Christmas without them)

A little something via The Beatles Fanclub to get you into the spirit, or keep you there, or to just get you rolling on a Sunday.

Enjoy and remember to hit the "donate" button -pennies, nickels and dimes work wonders.

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(Allen, the shady Dulles brother)

Allen Dulles was head of the CIA from 1953-1961, putting him smack in the middle of the Cold War, the Middle East, Vietnam, the Red Scare, just about everything America found itself knee deep in during the Eisenhower years. It is also interesting to note that his brother, John Foster Dulles was Secretary of State during that time (until his death in 1959) - no doubt it was an interesting atmosphere around Washington then. But in 1968 we had the infamous Pueblo Incident, where an admitted spy ship was seized in North Korean waters and the resulting embarrassment lasted for years. Dulles comfortably assesses the damage from the comfort of his retirement. As always, the Cold War has really never ended, especially in 1968.

In this interview, conducted by Mitchell Krauss for the NET series "Newsfront" in February of 1968, Dulles busily promotes his new book "Great True Spy Stories" and skillfully evades some pertinent questions.

Allen Dulles: (with reference to the Pueblo incident) “It is very important to get the type of intelligence that a ship like the Pueblo can gather. And therefore it was reasonable that it should be in that general area in order to carry out its mission. Obviously, it’s important to know what the possible antagonist is planning and doing and so forth and so on. One of the ways is to pick up from the airwaves, you know, what he’s saying.”

All in all, a rather easy game of softball, but one of the rare interviews done by someone who certainly knew where all the mummies were buried.

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(Ramsey Clark in 1968 - in something of an uncomfortable place that year)

February 18, 1968. In anticipation of another "long hot summer", as had been the case for a few years running, Meet The Press hosted a panel which asked Attorney General Ramsey Clark what was going to be done about the problems with our violent cities, with the protesters, the extremist groups - generally everything that was destined to make 1968 a milestone year.

To say Clark had his hands full is an understatement, but the level of fear and paranoia being voiced by the media was something else. But then, so was the resistance to change in a lot of perceptions.

James Kilpatrick: “Mister Attorney General, in his recent message on crime, the President devoted a significant passage to narcotics laws. In recent months there’s been a considerable controversy about marijuana and its dangers. Some authorities appear to take the view that its non-addictive drug, no more risky to society really than tobacco or whiskey. What is your own view on marijuana?"

Ramsey Clark: "My own view is that the use of marijuana, the sale of marijuana is a federal crime. And we will investigate and prosecute where that use and sale of it is found. I also think in our time, and particularly among our youth, the atmosphere of permissiveness is a danger, a clear and present danger to our kids. Marijuana is so frequently coupled with LSD and other highly dangerous drugs that we have to enforce very effectively in this field to protect those youth from themselves, and to protect our society."

And this was only February.

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(Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 1968 - Up to his eyeballs in it)

With the current situation in Afghanistan getting to the confrontation point, I was reminded of another situation the U.S. got into with Vietnam. Some four years after the infamous Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, questions were started to be raised over what was our plan there and how long was it going to take before we got out of there.

When an Aid request came along with a rumored increase of troop strength by 100,000-200,000, the Senate was starting to wane in their support, with J. William Fulbright being the most vocal during his questioning of Secretary of State Dean Rusk.

J. William Fulbright: “I do not mean to suggest of course, that I now agree with the course of action we are following in Vietnam. On the contrary, my doubts about the wisdom of this course of action have grown, and I am more than ever convinced that it is wrong, and that our present policies in Vietnam have had, and will have effects both abroad and at home that are nothing short of disastrous. Some members of this committee share my opinion. Others do not. But as I have said Mister Secretary, that while those of us who do not agree with our present policies in Vietnam, believe that it is our duty as United States Senators to give voice to the objections we feel in our minds and in our hearts.”

Unfortunately, it would grind on for another seven years before it came to an end.

Do the words deja-vu come to mind?

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(Skip Bifferty - same old story. One album, bunch of singles - on to other things)

It's almost beyond funny how many bands there were who got together, did one album, a bunch of singles and called it a day, or went off to other things. Skip Bifferty were no different.

They did release one great album in 1968 which went completely unnoticed in the States (I can't figure out why other than it was on RCA, which speaks volumes). They did a number of sessions for the BBC and had a decent modicum of popularity. But the vagaries of pop music being timeless, they lasted less than two years before packing it in and going their separate ways.

But they did leave this nice single - Man In Black.

Always nice to leave a place better than when you found it, right?

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(Before ELO, Jeff Lynne had a little band called Idle Race)

I just noticed Late Night Music Club put up some ELO, and that reminded me of an earlier band Jeff Lynne was in. Idle Race were certainly one of the catchier bands of the psychedelic era, and the bore a strong musical resemblance to another band from the same period, The Move. So much so, that Idle Race actually recorded (or covered as they used to call it)a Move song "Here We Go Round The Lemon Tree". So it would only make sense that Lynne would join The Move in 1970 which would eventually morph into ELO a few short years later.

But for now, here is a track off their first album, Birthday Party issued in 1968 for Liberty Records in the states and the UK, On With The Show - don't let the cartoon music fool you at the intro - it gets down to business in a few seconds.

But Psychedelia was unpredictable that way.

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(RO-D-YS - I know, how can you know about a band when you can't even pronounce their name?)

Contrary to public opinion, not all Psychedelia originated in either England or the U.S. - no, the whole world embraced it rather well, and it came in a bunch of different languages.

A lot of psych, and later prog-rock came out of Holland from the mid-sixties onward. One of those bands had the unlikely name RO-D-YS - which, as near as anyone can guess is pronounced Rowdy's, since there were at least two other bands calling themselves The Rowdy's milling around Holland. So rather than change their name, they just changed the spelling. Fair enough.

Nothing they recorded was ever released in the States, or even the UK, even though the band recorded quite a bit and had several singles on the Dutch charts.

This particular track "Sleep,Sleep, Sleep" was released in 1968, and I believe it was their third or fourth single release.

RO-D-YS lasted from 1966-1969, with various members wandering in and out of other Dutch bands. They weren't destined to become a household name, but they were part of an interesting and active movement that also included some innovators for the next decade. Stay tuned.

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(Aorta - came and went in a flash, but oh what a flash)

Even though I promised to do mellow this week, this track was already lined up to go for weeks and I had already promised some friends I'd run it. So bear with me.

Aorta was one of those phenomena so prevalent in the 60's. Bands that were really interesting either suffered at the hands of no airplay, no press or poor timing. In Aorta's case, I think it was all three.

From what little I know of them, they were from Michigan and recorded two albums for Columbia. I don't know what became of them; who they morphed into or even if they continued on in their musical careers. I am sure there is information around if you want to dig further.

Suffice to say this track, Sleep Tight (which also transitions into Catalyptic, so it's two tracks) has always been one of my favorites ever since first hearing the album when it came out.

And maybe it might do the same for you.

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(Grapefruit - all the right moves - all the right sounds - but . . .)

Even when you come with a name by Lennon, liner notes by Derek Taylor, publishing by Apple and production by Terry Melcher you can still fail to click with the record buying public. Such was the case with Grapefruit, a band with all the earmarks of a screaming success which, sadly came to very little.

Together for less than two years, Grapefruit formed in 1967 and recorded two albums (one released in 1968 and the second "Deep Water" released in 1969), and released a score of singles before packing it in and going their separate ways.

What they did leave is an awful lot of potential and some very good music.

Their first album "Around Grapefruit", issued in the U.S. on ABC-Dunhill, was laced with all the psychedelic hooks and twists needed to make each track memorable on its own. Great expectations were attached to it, but it failed to chart. And by the time their second album came out, issued on RCA, things had cooled considerably in the expectation department and its release went virtually unnoticed.

After splitting up, George Alexander, bass guitar, whose real name was Alexander Young, teamed up with his brother George and Harry Vanda who had just left The Easybeats to do sessions under the name Marcus Hook Roll Band. Vanda and Young, you will remember eventually morphed into AC/DC. So all was not lost.

Back to Grapefruit. This track, "Yesterday's Sunshine" is a blend of pop and psych with more emphasis on psych and it's typical of all the work on this album.

Another addition to the bulging "should've been" file. It doesn't deserve being ignored.

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(Procol Harum - if you named your band after a cat you'd have to be special too)

I think the gods of top-40 were a fickle bunch in the 1960's. Procol Harum had already established themselves as a unique and original band. Some say the forerunners of Art Rock (which, in retrospect is probably true - even though some Moody Blues aficionados would argue). In 1968, when A&M released this, their 3rd single, they issued "Quite Rightly So" as the A side and this track "In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence" as the B-side.

Neither side hit very well with the listeners or single buyers. Probably because the charts were a bit crowded with new and splashier singles. But still, Procol Harum always came out with something interesting, even if the marketplace was crowded.

I have found this song on various compilation albums, but very rarely have I heard this version. It is the single version, as issued by A&M, but for some reason a slower version is the one that shows up on most compilation albums. True, it's mono, and the stereo version is the slower one. But this version has much more energy and punch,possibly because it may be an earlier take. Just speculating.

At any rate, Procol Harum made a very big dent in the music scene from 1967 on.

And this was one of the reasons why.

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(Being Louder Than God did have certain drawbacks)

Demo's tonight. This by way of a friend who religiously recorded KSAN and KMPX in San Francisco from his dorm room in Berkeley in 1968. During summer break he would come down to L.A. and share his discoveries, stacks of reel to reel tapes of all that was happening in the Bay Area.

One of those discoveries was a group of demo tapes recorded by Blue Cheer, who came out with their first album "Vincebus Eruptum" a few weeks earlier. Summertime Blues was the single getting the most airplay at the time, but this demo sounded a lot better - the album was a disappointment by comparison. The demo was raw and loud and it was everything I remembered, hearing the band live months earlier.

I read a review recently saying their reputation as being "louder than god" was all hype.

Um . . . not so. As someone who saw them no less than a dozen times over a two year period, I can probably attest to some of my hearing damage to being caused by them. They were loud and nothing compared to them for a time. Of course, P.A. systems were pretty crude back then with no stage monitors to speak of and feedback all over the place. There was no such thing as 11 in 1968.

But as time went on, live music performance sound got perfected and soon everyone could boast being the loudest - but Blue Cheer were the barre to which most other bands live performances were judged, as least in my ears.

And there is ample evidence to indicate Blue Cheer were actually the very first Heavy Metal band.

Another patch in the Psychedelic quilt.

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(Plastic Penny - One Year Wonders)

Back to the 60's tonight and our never-ending quest for psychedelia. This time it comes from Plastic Penny, an underrated band that got started in 1967 and promptly folded at the end of the Isle Of Wight Festival in August of 1968. In that year they produced one hit single ("Everything I Am") and two albums before the band went their separate ways and got involved with other projects.

Mick Grabham, the lead guitarist left to co-found Cochise (another band with lots of potential but not much in hits) and eventually went off with Procol Harum.

This single "She Does" came out on Flying Dutchman Records in the U.S. in 1969, after the band had split up, but had a lot of material in the can to sustain an additional albums worth of tracks. It came and went without a trace, and doesn't even show up as an official release in either the States or the UK.

In any event, Plastic Penny is one more element in the complicated (and somewhat vast) tapestry of Psychedelia. One that keeps getting rediscovered all the time.

Raise your Freak Flag high.

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(Duster Bennett - the real U.K. deal)

Unfortunately, in his all-too-short career, Duster Bennett never made it to the States and only recorded a few albums before his untimely death in 1976 (falling asleep at the wheel and hitting a truck). But in the short time he was around, he made a deep impression on audiences and musicians alike with his raw and unpretentious style. This track "My Lucky Day" is off his first album "Smiling Like I'm Happy". It was recorded in 1968 and features pretty much all of Fleetwood Mac (John McVie on Bass, Mick Fleetwood on drums, Peter Green on guitar) as backup band. It was also produced by Mike Vernon (Fleetwood Mac's producer during their early incarnation) and was issued on Blue Horizon (Mike Vernon's label) - certainly not the kind of treatment you'd accord a flash-in-the-pan/one-hit-wonder, which Duster Bennett was not. Very little of his material has been reissued, which is tragic. However, a new compilation has come out that chronicles the recordings he made for Blue Horizon.

It's about time and it's worth checking out.

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(Powder in 1968 - file under: Could've been, Might've Been, Should've Been)

A power trio from San Jose in 1968 whose sound bore a strong resemblance to The Who from their "Happy Jack" period.

Not a bad idea, but maybe the timing just wasn't right and the enthusiasm was going off in other directions. In 1968 power trios were on the wane (Blue Cheer being one who, despite a great debut, never quite caught on outside the West Coast - the notion that "being louder than god had it's drawbacks").

And as was the case with so much music at the time, the powers that were just didn't know what to make of them. So there was a lot of polite head scratching and perplexity going on.

A few years ago my friend Alec Palao put together a compilation of various demos and not-quite-issued singles from the band, known variously as Powder and The Art Collection, recorded between 1967 and 1969, from which this track "Turn Another Page" comes from. And what it did was cast light on what was truly a talented outfit, capable of achieving much notoriety. But sadly, history had other plans.

I can't think of a better way to start the week.

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(Gloria Jones - the voice that stopped you dead in your tracks)

A couple of lifetimes ago, I was working with a band whose management shared an office suite with Ed Cobb. Cobb was one of the really great writer/producers on the L.A. music scene. I would often sit in an adjacent office and listen to whatever he was working on through the walls. It was always pretty amazing. And that's where I discovered Gloria Jones. He wrote a lot of the material for and produced her first big hit "Heartbeat" (part 1 and 2) which featured a stellar backup band fronted by none other than Billy Preston. But it was Cobb's composition and Jones version of "Tainted Love" that proved to be a massive hit in the 1980's when it was covered by Soft Cell.

A couple of years later in 1968, I stumbled across one of the follow-up discs. This time not produced or written by Cobb, but rather written by Jackie DeShannon and arranged by Artie Butler.

"When He Touches Me" just aches. It is a soulful lament to self-destructive love (where have we heard that one before?), and in Jones' hands, it just tore me up.

Sadly, this didn't hit and Gloria Jones life took another turn. But she's still singing and recording and I suspect just as powerful as ever.

But right now, here's the single she cut for Minit Records in 1968. I have the feeling it's never been reissued - and that's a shame.