This is Grapefruit’s subsequent follow-up to 2023’s March of the Flower Children, which focussed on the music of 1967. In that year, ‘All You Need Is Love’ was the universal message from The Beatles. In the US, by ’67, the solar flare which had been the British Invasion had largely burnt itself out and there were now newer sounds and attitudes towards making music coming very much to the forefront, notably hippiedom and psychedelia, with ‘flower power’ in full glorious bloom during the fabled ‘summer of love.’
But, what a difference a year makes. 1968 was a very significant year in the US, quite possibly one of the most tumultuous in the twentieth century .. Vietnam, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the Tet Offensive, Chicago .. plus the increasing fissions in US society and the accompanying civil unrest which helped put ‘tricky Dicky’ in the White House.
All these events had a significant impact on music because, by this time, the innocence which permeated the charts in the early-mid 60’s was giving way to a different vibe, and the sweet-sounding love songs which, at one time, had filled the Billboard charts were no longer in vogue. It heralded the time when bands began making the music they wanted. Prior to ’68, bands would understate their more esoteric tendencies to get ‘hits’ in the charts, but increasingly as the year wore on, musicians looked to break free of the formulae laid down by the music business. The Grateful Dead’s ‘Dark Star,’ for instance, on stage was often extended to over twenty minutes, but the short ‘single’ version is included here. So, ’68 became the year when The Byrds went country and created the template for The Eagles, when The Band released Music From Big Pink and laid the groundwork for Americana and when artists like Capt Beefheart and the Velvet Underground came in from the cold.
Newer, harder rocking bands like Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly and Steppenwolf, came along and turned up their amps, creating the conditions for what would come to be known as ‘heavy metal.’ But, in counterpoint, ‘68 was also the year when ‘bubblegum’ music filled the charts both sides of the Atlantic, bands like the Lemon Pipers, 1910 Fruitgum co and The Archies, all of whom feature of this set.
This sumptuous 3CD, 75-track set also features several bands who released some lovely tunes and were tipped to achieve success but who never did, such as The Left Banke, Beau Brummels, Spirit and Electric Prunes. Mortimer were also tipped to make it but Allen Klein did for them when he took full control over Apple. Kaleidoscope’s Just A Taste was considered for inclusion on Lenny Kaye’s seminal ‘Nuggets’ album but didn’t quite make the cut. Other bands featured here contained members who later went on to make names for themselves elsewhere. The Moving Sidewalks had Billy Gibbons on guitar before he left to start ZZ Top, The Nazz boasted the talents of the mercurial Todd Rundgren before he left to forge his own path and members of the Phoenix Trolley made a fortune when asked to write songs for some unknown family based group .. The Osmonds !!
There are also tracks from artists who most definitely let their freak flag fly .. The Fugs, the Strawberry Alarm Clock, United States of America and, possibly the freakiest of them all, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. There are bands included who are now regarded as seminal .. Grateful Dead, The Band, Love, The Seeds and the Beach Boys, and even tracks from early ‘60’s hitmakers who were trying to reinvent themselves in this new age, such as Del Shannon and Bryan Hyland. Some bands scored big regional hits. We The People scored with ‘Mirror Of Your Mind’ and the proto-punk ‘When I Arrive,’ but alas these didn’t trouble the national charts. One band, Silver Apples, had one reviewer write ‘you can’t listen to this without experiencing a desire to break this disc into several thousand pieces!’
Looking back, it can be seen while 1968 itself produced the kinds of social upheavals not seen in America since the Civil War, it also produced some of the decade’s most endearing music. The music of this era was the backdrop to films like Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now – and it still resonates with the generations born later as the music made carries a vitality the years can’t eliminate. It’s a testament to the quality of the music on these recordings that, fifty-plus years later, they’re still being listened to in what was a stellar year for new sounds.
