Can’t Seem To Come Down –The American Sounds Of 1968 – Various Artists (Grapefruit)

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While 1967 brought us the Summer Of Love, 1968 turned out to be something else entirely. And to prove it, here are 79 tracks spread over three CDs…over 4 hours of mind-blowing rock & roll that point to the future while plundering the past.

Come DownA glance at the back cover of this box set and it looks like everyone had turned on, tuned in and dropped acid including “straight” acts like Del Shannon, 1910 Fruitgum Co, Brian Hyland and The Lemon Pipers who weigh in with a little ditty called The Shoemaker Of Leatherwear Square…far out!

Come DownDon’t worry; the usual crew of genuinely hip bands are included such as The Byrds, Love, The Grateful Dead and The Velvet Underground.

But the real fun here is finding oddities like The Moving Sidewalks’ Hendrix-inspired version of I Want To Hold Your Hand…guitar histrionics courtesy of one Billy Gibbons soon to be with ZZ Top…or a very-pre-punk Debbie Harry cooing softly with The Wind In The Willows.

There are novelty tracks…The Yankee Dollar’s Johnann Sebasatian Cheetah…and some very good music to be found here.

Of course the Dylan, Velvets and Springfield tracks are great…but don’t ignore Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly  and Blue Cheer…heavy metal was just around the corner.

The package features a 48-page booklet with the trivia we know you need, along with a brief intro written by David Wells.

So, watch out for that Brown Acid and take your mind on a trip back to 1968…you won’t want to come down.

Marty Duda

Can’t Seem To Come Down – The American Sounds of 1968, Various Artists 3CD Box Set is out now!

Marty Duda
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