Underground
Studio album by The Electric Prunes
Released 2007 [originally released in 1967]
Recorded 1967
Genre Psychedelic Rock
Length 36:18
Label Rhino/Reprise
Producer David Hassinger
Underground is the second studio album by The Electric Prunes, released in 1967.
Professional Ratings:
allmusic 3.5/5 stars
Review by Mark Deming of allmusic:
According to Electric Prunes members Jim Lowe and Mark Tulin, producer Dave Hassinger enjoyed enough success as a result of the group's early hit singles and their subsequent debut album that he was too busy to spend much time with them as they were recording the follow up, and that was arguably a good thing for the band. While Underground didn't feature any hit singles along the lines of "I Had to Much to Dream (Last Night)," it's a significantly more consistent work than the debut, and this time out the group was allowed to write five of the disc's twelve songs, allowing their musical voice to be heard with greater clarity. As on their first LP, the Electric Prunes' strongest asset was the guitar interplay of Jim Lowe, Ken Williams and James "Weasel" Spagnola, and while they became a bit more restrained in their use of fuzztone, wah-wah and tremolo effects, there's a unity in their attack on Underground that's impressive, and the waves of sound on "Antique Doll," "Big City" and " "Children of Rain" reveal a new level creative maturity (though they could make with a wicked, rattling fuzz on "Dr. Do-Good"). If Underground ultimately isn't as memorable as the Electric Prunes' first album, it's a matter of material -- while the outside material that dominated the debut was sometimes ill-fitting, it also gave them some stone classic tunes like "I Had Too Much to Dream" and "Get Me to the World on Time," and the band themselves didn't have quite that level of songwriting chops, while the hired hands didn't deliver the same sort of material for Underground. Still, the album shows that the Electric Prunes had the talent to grow into something more mature and imaginative than their reputation suggested, and it's all the more unfortunate that the group's identity would be stripped from them for the next album released under their name, Mass in F Minor.
Review on The Rising Storm:
When the Electric Prunes are remembered at all, itÕs for their seductive nightmare of a 1967 single, ÒI Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night).Ó Culled from their first album, ÒI Had Too Much to DreamÓ set a template for the best of the bandÕs work: distorted guitars and vocals, bizarre lyrics and a spooky vibe.
By the time of their second album, the Prunes were tired of being considered a prefab band. Fed songs from some of L.A.Õs best psych-garage writers, controlled in the studio by producer/Machiavelli Dave Hassinger and often replaced on record by studio musicians, the band broke out of the prefab mold and wrote many of the songs on Underground.
The result was a more cohesive album than their first album, even if the many of the albumÕs best songs were contributed by other songwriters. Goffin-KingÕs ÒI Happen to Love YouÓ is one of the discÕs strongest tunes, and the duo of Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz of ÒI Had Too Much to DreamÓ fame, contributed ÒAntique Doll,Ó another standout track.
But the songs contributed by band members are not throwaways by any means. ÒThe Great Banana HoaxÓ by members Jim Lowe and Mark Tulin has as much in common with the Monkees as the Standells, but is nevertheless memorable (and not banana flavored in the least), as are the pairÕs other contributions, especially the brooding ÒEverybody Knows YouÕre Not in LoveÓ and ÒWind-Up Toys.Ó
Alas, Underground would be the last album for the real Electric Prunes; subsequent albums of pseudo-religious music (sung in Latin at times) used studio musicians playing under the moniker Òthe Electric Prunes,Ó while the actual Electric Prunes faded from view. Dirty shame.
Review on Dr. Schluss' Garage of Psychedelic Obscurities:
The Electric Prunes second long player is a significant improvement over their first. It's lacking the instant punch of their first disc's amazing singles, but makes up for that with consistency. Here the band seems much more in control of their fate and firmly in the driver's seat. There are still some stylistic excursions, and they do not always work, but they don't jettison the Prunes' signature heavy reverb and tremelo sound as several tracks do on the first album. The band also takes on much more of a songwriting presence on Underground. Scribes Mantz and Tucker still contribute with three songs, but they don't have the massive presence that they did before.
Underground is bookended with it's best tracks. "The Great Banana Hoax," which was written by singer James Lowe and bassist Mark Tulin, starts the album off with a psychedelic tour-de-force. The band follows an awesome tom drum driven groove through several eerie and pleasingly disjointed sections of music. Although the strange structure wouldn't have earmarked this one as a single, for those willing to follow "The Great Banana Hoax" is just as rewarding as the first album's classic singles. More immediate is the closing track "A Long Day's Flight." This relatively simple garage rocker is performed with maximum impact and should have been the breakthrough single from the album (I don't believe it was ever released as a single).
In between these psychedelic masterpieces is a pretty good, if not great, album. The band seems to function best when they're riding a bubbling groove as on "The Great Banana Hoax." They manage to maintain a chill, almost San Francisco rock type of groove for five minutes on Tucker and Mantz's "I." "Children Of Rain" is a cool mid-tempo psych track and the band logs in another top flight rocker with the Lowe and Tulin written "Hideaway."
There are still a few questionable style changes on somewhat cheesy "Antique Doll" and the excursion into sunshine pop on the Goffin/King composition "I Happen To Love You." Fortunately this is not at the expense of the Prunes' trademarks, and thus are far more successful than certain tracks on the debut album.
Although lacking their best known songs, Underground is the most accurate representation of the Electric Prunes released in the 1960's, and more than deserves the ear of discerning psych rock fans.
Review on Underground Music of the 1960s:
In this follow-up to their self-titled debut, The Electric Prunes define themselves as a unique psychedelic rock band by including much more original material than on their first album. Released on Reprise Records in August of 1967, just four months after their debut album, this album demonstrates how much the band had matured in such a short span of time. While their self-titled debut album was successful and was certainly a solid effort, it lacks original material and fails to establish a unique sound for the band. This album, however, displays a psychedelic rock band willing to diversify their sound. Instead of creating more cookie-cutter psychedelic rock songs, the band adds complexity and depth with their own newly found songwriting skills. This increased complexity is evident as soon as the needle drops. The opening song ÒThe Great Banana Hoax,Ó is an original tune built on the foundation of solid rhythmic garage rock beat with spurts of psychedelic effects. Instead of dominating their sound with fuzzy guitars and intricate melodic psychedelic beats as they did on their first album, The Prunes incorporate these characteristics much more subtly and handsomely. Time and again they show that they are more than just a bag of cool studio effectsÐÐthey are solid rock musicians as well. Songs like ÒWind-Up ToysÓ and ÒHideawayÓ are other great examples of original songs using psychedelic effects more selectively. These songs still certainly qualify as psychedelic rock songs; however, they may not be as buzzy and fuzzy as most of the songs on their first album. The biggest surprise on this album is the original single ÒItÕs Not Fair.Ó This song is so unique that it evades categorization. It might be described as honky-psychedelic-garage-country-rock. ÒItÕs Not FairÓ incorporates subtle psychedelic effects into a driving honky-tonk country rhythm played by garage rock musicians. It is perhaps my favorite song on the album. My only complaint with the album is that it could feature even more original tunes. While seven originals is a whole lot more than two, the cover songs on the album arenÕt quite as strong as the bandÕs own material. In particular, ÒI Happen to Love YouÓ and ÒIÓ lack the same enthusiasm as other efforts. This criticism is perhaps a bit nitpicky, as neither song is all that bad. When both sides are played through, thereÕs really very little to be disappointed with. This album is necessary for any psychedelic or garage rock fan, particularly fans that enjoy the subtle nuances that can separate one psychedelic 60s rock band from another.
Review by Mark Smotroff on Technology Tell:
Last month I reported on a neat find: a lovely purple vinyl reissue of The Electric PrunesÕ fab first album for about $11!
Another music writer friend contacted me after reading my review, urging me to check out The Electric PrunesÕ second album, Underground.
I had never heard this disc and rarely remembered seeing it even in collectorÕs shops. According to the Wiki, this album features mostly original tracks written by the band, as opposed to the first album, which had the hits written by professional songwriters.
However, remembering seeing it in the stacks at Amoeba Records, I went back and purchased a copy for about $12! Like the first album reissue, this is also on colored vinyl (mine is lovely clear royal blue).
The pressings are again well made (and thick) by Rhino, including multi-colored pink-green-yellow period Reprise Records labels and original cover art.
The sound is very much of the time, but it sounds really solid overall, presenting a four-piece psychedelic rock band in all its early, tripped-out glory, employing the latest effects of the era Ñ tremolo on the amplifiers, distortion, echo, etc.
In some ways, Underground rings a bit more true than its predecessor showing a band following their artistic muse instead of record label directives. Underground is indeed a more mature Ñ or shall we say, ÒexperiencedÓ Ñ authentic-sounding psychedelic album, with a bunch of cool tunes that are nowhere near as calculated as the (admittedly equally appealing, but different) psych-pop of the first album. It sounds like these guys had been well informed and were listening to early recordings by The Velvet Underground, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Mothers of Invention, and Pink Floyd.
Album opener ÒThe Great Banana HoaxÓ kicks off things on a rocking note. ÒWind Up ToysÓ sounds like a cross between Love and perhaps even The Monkees. They even dive into a bit of country/western fun with ÒItÕs Not Fair,Ó possibly a response to The BeatlesÕ country/western nod of a couple years earlier (ÒAct NaturallyÓ). I would love to hear Prince cover ÓI Happen To Love You,Ó with its hushed whispered lines and spartan reverb-drenched arrangement. ÒDr. Do-GoodÓ sounds like a remake of ÒSold to the Highest BidderÓ from their first album by way of The BeatlesÕ Dr. Robert. ÒHideawayÓ compacts The Doors (ÒThe EndÓ) and Piper-era Pink Floyd (ÒInterstellar Overdrive,Ó ÒAstronomy DominaeÓ) into a less-than-three-minute journey. ÒLong DayÕs FlightÓ closes the album on a high note Ñ if you will Ñ recalling The ByrdÕs ÒEight Miles HighÓ along the way.
Even the album art shows the influence of the times, with a back cover that at once recalls flipside art of The BeatlesÕ Revolver and Pink FloydÕs Piper at The Gates of Dawn, as well as The Grateful DeadÕs first LP and Are you Experienced by Jimi Hendrix.
If you liked the first one, or if you just like early psychedelic rock from the Õ60s in general, youÕre probably gonna dig The Electric PrunesÕ Underground.
Liner notes by Richie Unterberger:
Underground, the second Electric Prunes album, was the closest the group came to realizing Lowe's ideals. Their debut LP had already unveiled their intriguing mix of bluesy garage rock, savvy pop-rock hooks; pioneering experiments with guitar reverb, oscillation, varispeed tapes; and touches of autoharp, well-placed fuzztone, and miscellaneous psychedelic effects. On the follow-up, they would go even more Underground, so to speak. Underground was also the Electric Prunes record most representative of the group's vision, as they wrote more than half the material, after being limited to just two original compositions on the first album.
Underground's evocation of a mysterious psychedelic funhouse that is both enchanting and distressing gets into motion with "The Great Banana Hoax," the hoax being that the words have nothing whatsoever to do with bananas or hoaxes. Instead it's a classy pop-psychedelic tune, anchored by killer Mark Tulin bass lines and the group's knack for dramatic stop-start tempos and pauses. Yet the band's love for embellishing tracks with unpredictable, undefinably weird sounds could not be suppressed. That noise near the beginning that sounds like a motorcycle revving up is actually a slowed-down vocal growl; the percussive effects that sound like a rock swirling around a bucket near the end are, Tulin thinks, made by a kalimba brought to the band via Africa.
The next three songs seem to drift into a concept album of a psychedelic lost childhood with both blissful and sinister edges, populated by dolls, toys, and kids that inhabit the netherworld between reality and illusion. The best of these, "Antique Doll," was written by Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, the team responsible for the Electric Prunes' biggest hit, "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)"; Tucker and Mantz also contributed two other tracks to Underground. The gauzy, moody texture of the cut takes on a particularly creepy edge with the sci-fi-like cries near the end, which Lowe says is "us crying at double speed. We played around with tape speed a lot." Childhood imagery is abandoned on "It's Not Fair," a standard, if tongue-in-cheek, country-blues tune that derails into a strange spoken coda with maniacally ascending keys, like a wind-up toy suddenly accelerating out of control.
For all the eccentricity of their original compositions (and most of the ones given to them by Tucker and Mantz), the group could deftly balance the weirdness with high-caliber pop-rock tunes from outside sources. There's no better example of this than "I Happen to Love You," the most undeservedly obscure gem penned by one of the greatest pop-rock songwriting teams, Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It could be Goffin-King's bluesiest, sultriest effort, originally done on a 1966 flop single by the little-known New York band the Myddle Class. The Electric Prunes add ethereal autoharp, gently wah-wahing guitars, and a Vox electronic organ solo to the arrangement. "We thought that song was cool," declares Lowe. "I was surprised they didn't think it was good enough for a 45." As for that Vox organ on the track, "they brought a prototype in, and took it back after they heard what we did with it."
The failure of "I Happen to Love You" to appear as a single is even more mystifying given that the song that was chosen as the first single off the album could hardly have been less likely to succeed. "Dr. Do-Good," certainly the zaniest composition Tucker-Mantz crafted for the group, is an unhinged slice of psychobabble, walking the tightrope between kiddie singalong tune and outright madness. That scrape of distorted noise at the very beginning is, according to Lowe, lead guitarist "Ken Williams on a prototype slide guide, kind of a steel guitar thing someone gave us. It was overdubbed numerous times and turned around, I think." The deranged Bugs Bunny-like laughter near the end is not Lowe, but producer Dave Hassinger.
In complete contrast, "I" -- also the work of Tucker-Mantz, one of the most eclectic songwriting teams of their time, to judge from the manic extremes of their output -- is subdued, brooding, and rather similar to the work of numerous San Francisco psychedelic bands circa 1967, particularly in its sustain-laden guitar leads. "Hideaway" (written by Tulin and Lowe), which like "The Great Banana Hoax" was driven by a compelling bass line, is perhaps the best original in the Electric Prunes catalog. "It was our attempt to synthesize the Indian style with the rock sensibility," says Tulin. "The two major inspirations were 'Paint It Black' by the Rolling Stones and the raga music of Ravi Shankar."
"Big City" (previously recorded by San Jose group the E-Types) is, like "I Happen to Love You," another pop-rock breather from the psychedelic journey. The semi-comic "Captain Glory" is one of the vocals Lowe remembers most fondly, for its "loose, silly," quality. The album ends on a storming note with "Long Day's Flight," garage psychedelia with an improvised feel and some terrific violin-like guitar shimmer and sustain, especially on the fade. The song was co-written by drummer Quint -- who replaced Preston Ritter about halfway through the sessions -- with, of all people, the son of Los Angeles mayor Sam Yorty.
The Underground sessions were not the easiest of times for the Electric Prunes. Guitarist James "Weasel" Spagnola also left during the sessions due to illness, replaced by Mike Gannon, who appears on a couple of tracks ("Long Day's Flight" and "The Great Banana Hoax"). The record was not a huge seller, peaking at #172, and did not produce a hit single (although "Dr. Do-Good" bubbled under the Hot Hundred, reaching a measly #128). It was primarily because of those low sales tallies that the third Electric Prunes album, Mass in F Minor, would not have any original material, but instead be a quasi-religious concept record pretty much foisted upon them by their management/production team.
At least the band were able to write both sides of a non-LP single issued in early 1968. "Everybody Knows You're Not in Love" is as commercial as the Tulin-Lowe songwriting team got, its bouncy California sunshine pop interrupted by a brief brittle solo scrape up and down the guitar strings. It's outshone by the B-side, "You Never Had It Better," a dynamic slab of bluesy psych-pop with more characteristic (and quite ferocious) fuzz and distortion.
As for Underground, however, Tulin was pleased with the album, "primarily because we were beginning to have more of a say in what we were doing. However, I was not pleased that a lot of the ideas we had did not/could not come off. We were still learning how to record and thus were at the mercy of our producer's studio 'expertise.' We would describe what we wanted to accomplish and were told how to do it only to find when we were done that it wasn't close. The technology to do some of the things we wanted did not yet exist. Had we known more about recording techniques I think the album would have sounded even better. And, once again, although to a lesser extent [than the first album], there were songs I didn't want to record. However, all things considered, I do believe Underground gives a good sense of who we were as a band and where we could have gone."
LP track listing
Side One
1. "The Great Banana Hoax" (James Lowe, Mark Tulin) Ð 4:09
2. "Children of Rain" (Ken Williams, Goodie Williams) Ð 2:37
3. "Wind-Up Toys" (James Lowe, Mark Tulin) Ð 2:26
4. "Antique Doll" (Nancie Mantz, Annette Tucker) Ð 3:13
5. "It's Not Fair" (James Lowe, Mark Tulin) Ð 2:04
6. "I Happen to Love You" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) Ð 3:15
Side Two
7. "Dr. Do-Good" (Nancie Mantz, Annette Tucker) Ð 2:26
8. "I" (Nancie Mantz, Annette Tucker) Ð 5:14
9. "Hideaway" (James Lowe, Mark Tulin) Ð 2:42
10. "Big City" (Johnny Walsh, Dan Walsh) Ð 2:46
11. "Captain Glory" (James Lowe) Ð 2:14
12. "Long Day's Flight" (Michael Weakley, William Yorty) Ð 3:12
Personnel:
* Ken Williams - guitar
* James Lowe - harmonica, autoharp, vocals
* James "Weasel" Spagnola - guitar, vocal
* Preston Ritter - drums, percussion
* Michael "Quint" Weakley - drums
* Mark Tulin - bass, piano, organ