Greatest Hits from "Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood"
10.01.15
Frosty was thrilled to welcome the deeply music minded Domenic Priore back on Celsius Drop for another special guest mix. This time around he shared sounds sourced from his newly reprinted book the “Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Last Stand in Hollywood.” Here’s an introduction from the man himself…
“Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Last Stand in Hollywood just came out in a revised edition this month, so to celebrate, I figured it might be cool to play a “Greatest Hits!!!” set like some 1970s TV album by Ronco, K-Tel, Adam VIII or whoever. GET YOURS NOW!!!, ha ha… There are actually a lot of “hits” left out, for example, there were so many important R&B smashes that came from L.A. during that period, that a whole show could cover just those, prominent mid-’60s hits such as “Louie, Louie” by The Kingsmen (Pacific Northwest), “Hang On Sloopy” by The McCoys (Ohio), “Good Lovin'” by The Young Rascals (New York) and even “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen (Minnesota)… these were all covers of L.A. R&B hits by Richard Berry, The Vibrations, The Olympics and The Rivingtons, respectively. Then there were things that developed moments after the November, 1966 Sunset Strip “riots” that we didn’t have time to cover, such as Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride,” Spirit’s “I’ve Got A Line on You,” Canned Heat’s “Goin’ Up The Country” or anything by the early version of a band known as Alice Cooper. But hey, I think you get the idea.
Most everything here are from two genres, actually; Folk-Rock and Garage. Some of the stuff around in those days could be considered “Freak Out” music, a term Frank Zappa coined as the “next dance craze” in ’66… they actually went around the country and tried turning people on to “the freak out”… which in all reality was an extension of the Watusi. ANYWAY, perhaps this set will be a reminder of how you first heard so many of these great bands, all of them breaking out of the Los Angeles club scene between 1965 and 1967… keeping in mind that many of the songs released from L.A. during 1967 were harbored in L.A.’s clubs the previous two years. Each group has an incredible catalog to pull from, and I’m sure many of you have taken the time to dive in a bit deeper with some of them.
Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Last Stand in Hollywood can serve as a source to find more great music of this kind, as we dig deeper into the catalogs of these acts, and obscure 45s by others who didn’t actually have hits, but delivered solid sounds, nonetheless. Truth be told, downloading music hadn’t really happened when the book was first being written, but I knew something like that would be coming, and feared not mentioning all this obscure stuff that I knew you’d be able to find… now. Hope you dig it!” – Domenic Priore
Tracklist:
The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man
Love – My Little Red Book
The Rising Sons – Take a Giant Step
The Leaves – Hey Joe
The Grass Roots (1) – Mr. Jones
The Grass Roots (2) – Let’s Live For Today
Jackie DeShannon – What the World Needs Now (Is Love)
The Turtles – Happy Together
The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations
The MFQ – This Could Be The Night
Ike & Tina Turner – River Deep, Mountain High
The Everly Brothers – Gone, Gone, Gone
P.F. Sloan – Where Were You (When I Needed You)
The Dovers – What Am I Gonna Do
The Standells – Dirty Water
Paul Revere & the Raiders – Steppin’ Out
The Seeds – Pushin’ Too Hard
The Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought the Law
The Knickerbockers – Lies
The Music Machine – Talk Talk
Davie Allan & the Arrows – Blues’ Theme
Strawberry Alarm Clock – Incense and Peppermints
The Mothers of Invention – Son of Suzy Creamcheese
The Electric Prunes – I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night
The Doors – Light My Fire
Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band – Diddy Wah Diddy
Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth
Sonny & Cher – I Got You Babe
Cher – All I Really Want to Do
Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made For Walkin’
The Association – Along Comes Mary
The Mamas & The Papas – California Dreamin’
The Merry Go Round – Live
The Stone Poneys – Different Drum
The Fifth Dimension – Up, Up and Away
Harper’s Bizzare – Feelin’ Groovy
The Monkees – I’m A Believer
Harry Nilsson – Everybody’s Talkin’
The United States of America: The Garden of Earthly Delights
Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band on “Where the Action Is!”
Harry Nilsson (promotional film, song from the “Midnight Cowboy” soundtrack)
