I’m not sure I understand the criteria for what makes a hit a “Flower Power” song. Does Steppenwolf’s “Rock Me” resound with Flower Power? Or Steam’s classic “Na Na Hey Kiss Him Goodbye”? Or Elton John’s “Honkey Cat”?
Whatever the definition of Flower Power TIME-LIFE used in assembling this compilation CD, it certainly is elastic! “Crocodile Rock” rubs shoulders with Strawberry Alarm Clock’s “Tomorrow.”
I’ve always liked “Dedicated to the One I Love” by The Mamas & The Papas. When is the last time you heard Spanky and Our Gang sing “Lazy Day”?
Do you remember these songs from the late 1960s and early 1970s? Flower Power: United We Stand from 2008 is a hodgepodge of hits from that era–some seldom heard on the radio anymore. GRADE: B-
TRACK LIST:
Disc 1
1 Rock Me BY Steppenwolf
2 I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag BY Country Joe & the Fish
3 Clair BY Gilbert O’Sullivan
4 People Get Ready BY The Impressions
5 Na Na Hey Kiss Him Goodbye BY Steam
6 Tuesday Afternoon Forever Afternoon BY The Moody Blues
7 Monterey BY The Animals
8 Jam Up Jelly Tight BY Tommy Roe
9 Indian Lake BY The Cowsills
10 Daniel BY Elton John
11 A Salty Dog BY Procol Harum
12 Black Night BY Deep Purple
13 Stop the War Now BY Edwin Starr
14 Honky Cat BY Elton John
Disc 2
1 Crocodile Rock BY Elton John
2 Tomorrow BY Strawberry Alarm Clock
4 Dedicated to the One I Love BY The Mamas & the Papas
5 The Night Chicago Died BY Paper Lace
6 You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet BY Bachman-Turner Overdrive
7 Choice of Colors BY The Impressions
8 Twenty-Five Miles BY Edwin Starr
9 United We Stand BY Brotherhood of Man
10 Lazy Day BY Spanky & Our Gang
11 Go Now! BY The Moody Blues
12 Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out) BY The Hombres
14 Conquistador BY Procol Harum
The songs from the mid-to-late 60s might qualify, but anything post-1969 is most definitely NOT from the Flower-Power era. And if they’re trying to represent the “Summer of Love” era, where is “San Francisco” by Scott McKenzie or “Reach Out of the Darkness” by Friend & Lover? The true flower-power stuff. Plus, if you’re going to include Strawberry Alarm Clock, ya gotta have “Incense and Peppermints” not whatever “Tomorrow” (a song I have absolutely no memory of ever hearing) is! On the other hand, in all fairness, I probably wouldn’t change the station if any of these songs came on the radio (especially “Tomorrow”—so I could finally hear what it sounds like)…but as a collection of flower-power anthems, this collection is a complete mishmash…and not in any way representative of that era.
What Deb said. So-called Flower Power would have to include Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco” (written by John Phillips) and “Get Together” by The Youngbloods and stuff like “Groovin’,” maybe “Grazing in the Grass.” Definitely “Incense and Peppermints.”
Jeff, TIME-LIFE had a series of FLOWER POWER compilation CDs where the songs you and Deb cite showed up. If I find them, they’ll be reviewed here.
Bad advertising hook, is what Time Life marketing cared about. It’s not as if they had to sell many of these to make a profit.
Todd, I can’t estimate how many TIME-LIFE compilation CDs I own. But it’s a lot. Clearly, people bought them at one time…
Deb, I have dozens of TIME-LIFE compilations and they really had to reach–like with FLOWER POWER–to assemble songs that fit their themes.
What Deb said.
I remember most of the songs and actually like a few. I’m with Deb on “Tomorrow” — which I suspect might be a “phantom” song included just to mess with out minds.
And I truly doubt that any stoned-out, peace-loving flower child I have met ever felt that Indian Lake was a scene one should make with one’s little one. Little one? Sounds like they gearing the song to Jeffrey Epstein. What the hell does “At Indian Lake you’ll be able to make the way the Indians do” mean, anyway?
Jerry, TIME-LIFE complications are famous for their inclusion of songs like “Tomorrow” to mess with listeners’ minds.
Jackie wants to know, where are the songs from HAIR – the title song, Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In, Good Morning Starshine, Easy To Be Hard.
Jeff, those HAIR songs might be too pricy for TIME-LIFE.
Agree
Hodgepodge indeed, but some real nostalgia here from 9th grade days (Go Now) to early work-world (Daniel). One of my dorm neighbors had Days of Future Passed on auto-replay in 1970, so I could be sure of hearing Tuesday Afternoon at least once a day.
Lots of memories there. Some unfamiliar at least from the title.
Maggie, I had to listen to some of these songs on FLOWER POWER to jog my memory. Many of these songs I haven’t heard in 50 years!
I heard Lazy Days recently! I’m sure most of these songs were laying around, failing to generate any income, when some old fart at Time-Life decided to slap a title on an album and release them together!
Bob, you know how the Recording Industry used to work! Now it’s all streaming…
Indeed, I’ve definitely heard nearly all these in childhood, and the majority since. Some first as snippets on anthology album TV commercials ca. 1970. But the majority on radio or even on my or borrowed vinyl.
And, at least, on DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED, the Moody Blues song is simply “Tuesday Afternoon”…I’m more fond of their slightly earlier “Go Now” album tracks.
Todd, at the time, having the Moody Blues perform with a symphony orchestra was a Big Deal.
Albeit not an interesting Big Deal. Not Supplemental Beatles.
Todd, you’re right: many of these songs found their way into TV commercials over the years.
Mostly ads for this kind of anthology, on vinyl or tape…