Jingle Jangle Morning – The U.S. 1960’s Folk Rock Explosion

Between the years 1965-1970, the US witnessed a quite astonishing growth in the area of folk rock which, perhaps unsurprisingly, has its origins in the seismic impact made by The Beatles and the ‘British Invasion’ of the early 1960’s.

The influence that these long-haired musicians (at least for their era!) had on American youth was quite remarkable. Their unique sound inspired many young folk guitarists, who had previously played seated with their acoustic guitars in coffee shops for mere pennies, to swap their acoustics for electric Rickenbackers and form electric bands. Among the pioneers of this shift were Roger McGuinn and David Crosby, who came together to create The Byrds—arguably a foundational act in the folk-rock genre. Several tracks featured here clearly show the Byrds’ impact, including The Beau Brummels’ ‘I Want You’ and Blue Things’ ‘Desert Wind.’

However, Bob Dylan made the biggest impact at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Previously an acoustic folky in the early 1960s, when he appeared onstage with an electric guitar, it was revolutionary in its effect and, in the outrage it caused, it changed the entire face of the movement. Out of this milieu emerged bands such as Buffalo Springfield, the Grateful Dead, The Lovin’ Spoonful and the Mamas and Papas, all of whom became household names. Similarly, many solo artists, previously acoustic players, were quick to meet the challenge and make the change, such as Tim Hardin, Janis Ian and Fred Neil. All these and a great many others are to be found across this quite sublime set.

Jingle Jangle Morning runs to seventy four tracks from right the way across the genre, ranging from artists practically everybody on earth knows, Dylan to Simon & Garfunkel, to artists unknown outside of their immediate families – Fapardokly and Stourbridge Lions, who didn’t even get to make a record. The 3 discs run for almost four hours and is very likely the most thorough and comprehensive compilation ever assembled of one of the major social movements which transformed popular music. It includes major hits, less well known hits, but which most people know, several rarities and deep cuts from across a wide spectrum of artists. There’s a school of thought claiming folk-rock provided much of the soundtrack to (and many of the protest songs against) American incursion into Vietnam, notably Tim Buckley’s ‘No Man Can Find The War,’ Richie Havens’ ‘Handsome Johnny’ and Phil Ochs’ ‘I Ain’t Marching Anymore,’ with its refrain of “It’s always the old to lead us to the war, it’s always the young who fall.”

There are also songs from performers whose work deserved a wider audience but who ended up becoming cult artists, with small though dedicated numbers of fans, notably Gordon Lightfoot, Gene Clark, Beau Brummels and Merrell Frankenhauser. Plus a number of songs from acts with members who’d achieve fame elsewhere, such as The Mugwumps (Mama Cass), Stone Poneys (Linda Ronstadt) and Great Society (Grace Slick). There’s also ‘Hey Joe’ by The Leaves, recorded a full year before Hendrix revolutionised it.

The booklet accompanying this set is worth the price of admission on its own, running to almost 10,000 words and providing detailed comments about the transition from folk to rock. As well as notes on every track on this set written by Richie Unterberger, an acknowledged expert in this field and author of many well written books about US music in the 1960s.

Artists like Dylan and others in the vanguard had to meet and face down some extreme hostility from ‘folk purists’ regarding their decision to use electric instruments in their music, but their decision to continue nonetheless paved the way for major social and musical change. Left to the purists, how much great music would we never have been exposed to if these people had had their way?  For anyone who would have been a hippie in the 1960s and protested about the Vietnam War, had they been old enough, this set is an absolute ‘must have’ for you.