The Fire Escape & The Seeds - Psychotic Reaction [1966]/Raw and Alive: Live at Merlin's Music Box [1967] [1991] [Anthology]
Drop Out Records/Demon / DO CD 1990
The Fire Escape 'Psychotic Reaction'
AMG review: "Because it is totally hardcore, has the word "psychotic" spelled wrong in huge print on the back cover, and is almost impossible to find anywhere, '60s freaks will want this. No members of the so-called Fire Escape are mentioned by name, and there's an arranger's credit, which is not exactly a sign that a regular band is playing. It is a good guess that the group is fabricated and the project is actually performed by the so-called production team of Larry Goldberg and Hank Levine, with help from sessionmen. The liner notes detail how some jokers arrived in San Francisco during the height of the Haight-Ashbury scene and spent more than $50 in cab fare wandering around trying to find where the group the Fire Escape was playing. And guess where that was? A club called the Gutter. If that is not proof enough that this is one of the greatest sets of liner notes in music history, sample the intro: "San Francisco, a far out city! The Fire Escape, a far out band!" Well, it certainly has good taste in covers, that's for sure. Practically all the good parts of the original Nuggets collection are here: the title track, "Talk Talk," "96 Tears." There's not one but two obscure Seeds covers. The producers take credit for writing "Blood Beat" and "Journey's End," both yucky, but no one takes credit for "Love Special Delivery," advertised as just plain "LSD" on the front cover. This is one of three overt references to acid in the song selection -- talk about targeting an audience who are hallucinating too hard to respond. This album is, frankly, a ripoff, but at least good stuff was ripped off. And yes, Shockabilly also spelled "psychotic" wrong on the back of the original Rough Trade release, Dawn of Shockabilly, but at least that was in small print. "
The Seeds 'Raw and Alive: Live at Merlin's Music Box'
AMG review: "The Seeds were an exceptional band that never achieved the success that they inspired. This album has a truly psychedelic cover with too-dark-for-pastel colors, swirling letters over eerie faces, and dynamic black and white photos on the back. If you want to see the image of Iggy Pop clothed, just look at Sky Saxon in the bottom right photo on the back cover with the screaming girl holding a flower grabbing at him. He had the image down, as well as the music. "900 Million People Daily All Making Love" sounds so much like the Doors and Jim Morrison's "When the Music's Over," one has to wonder which came first, or did they copy each other? "Mumble and Bumble" is a trippy "Alabama Song," but where Morrison is looking for the next whiskey bar, Saxon is off looking for flowers and magic mushrooms. The band has great energy which is pierced by annoying canned applause à la the Rolling Stones' Got Live If You Want It. This is a record album, not a situation comedy TV show, after all; what's the point of overdubbing an audience onto what is really good music? Sure, "No Escape" is a prelude to the closer and hit "Pushin' Too Hard" with a tip of the hat to Martha & the Vandellas, while "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" is placed nicely in mid-set, a song after the truncated "Up in Her Room." The revelation that is this "concert" album is what a great band the Seeds really were, and how Sky Saxon's vocals have a gritty edge that he held back on us in many of the studio recordings. "Gypsy Plays His Drums" has a great chug-chug guitar, nice off-key backing vocals, and a driving pulse which is present throughout the performance. If you can ignore the extraneous additions, a song like "Forest Outside Your Door" shows really how creative and influential this pioneering band was, while "Satisfy You" is Saxon's direct sexual rock to Mick Jagger's "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Sky claims he can get satisfaction, and can satisfy you at the same time. He then veers off into more familiar psychedelic territory with "Night Time Girl" which combines the sex and the psychedelia. If they taught rock & roll in school, "Raw & Alive" would have to be the textbook for image, design, and content."
The Fire Escape 'Psychotic Reaction'
01. Psychotic Reaction
02. Talk Talk
03. Love Special Delivery
04. The Trip
05. 96 Tears
06. Blood Beat
07. Trip Maker
08. Journey's End
09. Pictures And Desings
10. Fortune Teller
The Seeds 'Raw and Alive: Live at Merlin's Music Box'
11. Introductio By 'Humble' Harv-Mr Farmer
12. No Escape
13. Satisfy You
14. Night Time Girl
15. Up In Her Room
16. Gypsy Plays His Drums
17. Can't Seem To Make You Mine
18. Mumble And Bumble
19. Forest Outside Your Door
20. 900 Million People Daily All Making Love
21. Pushin' Too Hard
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