Saturday, September 11, 2010

The Seeds - My favorite 60's garage band

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My love of this band started when my wife got me the first Nuggets box set as a gift about 10 years ago.  I heard their song "Pushin' Too Hard" and right then I was hooked. Check out a video of  them performing the song on TV here. They were featured on the classic late 60's sit-com "The Mothers-In-Law". I've listened to tons of their music through the years and have become a devoted Seeds fan.

I finally got some of their albums a few years ago and they have not disappointed. The first album is pure genious.  Nothing but raw 60's fuzz guitar meshed with growlin' organ and keyboard bass. The Seeds were the first band to notably use only keyboard bass. Daryl Hooper played the wild keys and he played like no one else.  He had his own brand of carnival style organ that drove The Seeds' songs to a musical manic state in a matter of minutes.

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In later years the lead singer, Sky Saxon , took a stab at bass guitar and tore it up. His true gift though was his snarling, raspy vocals that complimented the instrumentation perfectly.

When I first heard their second album, "A Web of Sound", I didn't think it could better. I bought the album on clear red vinyl and instantly fell in love.  some of the more notable tracks include: "Mr. Farmer", "Trip Maker" and "Up in Her Room".

If you're a fan of 60's rock/psych/garage you can't go wrong with The Seeds. Their 3rd effort, "Travel With Your Mind"  is nothing short of an opus. Lots of psychedelic layered masterpieces and poppy garage gems.

Even some of the later albums like "A Full Spoon of Seedy Blues" and "Future" are great in their own right.  Sky Saxon played through the years in many bands and really deserves more recognition in the rock world.  I have the 2004 album "Sky Saxon and the Seeds - Red Planet" and I play it as much as the early albums. Sky even did cameo in a Smashing Pumpkins video.  I was lucky enough to see Sky play at the 2007 Fuzz Fest in Portland, OR. It was amazing to see him play with Benjamin Starshine and his band backing him up.  I couldn't have been happier.  They played some early favorites and the experience was truly priceless. Sadly Sky passed away in June of 2009 but he and his legacy will be remembered. He left a stamp on this world that only he could leave.

From Left to Right: Daryl Hooper-Organ/Keyboards/Backing Vocals, Jan Savage - Guitar/Backing Vocals, Sky Saxon-Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar (uncredited on recordings), Rick Andridge-Drums


Well that completes my post on my favorite 60's garage band of all time - The Seeds!  Thanks for reading.





1 comment:

  1. It appears that Harvey Sharpe was actually the bassist on most of The Seeds' recordings. Excellent details are available in the booklet notes to Big Beat's fantastic 2012 series of reissues - the entire catalog,mono and stereo mixes,amazing remastering and packaging - a true labor of love that every fan will treasure. Hope you get yours!

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