Search - Electric Prunes :: Stockholm '67

Timeless Rave-ups

Katherine McCarthy | Forest Hills, NY United States | 12/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First off, the Electric Prunes were cursed with a name that became a joke back in the '60's. Made sense at the time, but never made it thru the '70's with anything approaching dignity intact. 2) Mass in F Minor was a major mistake. Pompous, pretentious, over the top. But their first garage classics - "I Had Too Much Too Dream Last Night," and "Get Me To The World On Time" I played over & over until the 45 rpm singles' grooves went grey. Since then, they are now enshrined on the awesome and mighty Nuggets Anthology. I never saw them live until Little Steven resurrected them for his Underground Garage Festival in 2004. For their brief time onstage, they made the ground rumble. You could feel the fuzztone, feedback, and bass lines come up from the earth under your feet. I left the festival, and next day, went to their website where I discovered "Stockholm '67". In this I found the motherlode. Unbeknownst to me, the Electric Prunes were the best American rave-up psychedelic punk meisters to ever grace a stage. "Try Me On for Size," "Smokestack Lightning," "You Never Had It Better" will rip the joint. As for their own 1 1/2 hits - "I Had Too Much To Dream..." & "Get Me To The World..." they tear them apart & rebuild them from inside out. I can't help playing them at 11 and having the neighbors bang on the walls. Great stuff! Ferocious garage!"

Live, fuzzed-out garage punk!

Laszlo Matyas | 07/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you're only framiliar with the Prunes through their studio recordings, watch out, because this album is a whole different ball game! On stage, the Electric Prunes didn't try to be art-rockers, or even all that psychedelic. Instead, they filled their live shows with wall-to-wall, ear-shattering, earth-quaking, super distorted garage rockin' insanity. This album, recorded in 1967 for Swedish radio, is a stunning document of the band at the peak of their power. They bash out eight boiling slabs of rock 'n' roll insanity with a kind of ferocity that leaves their contemporaries in the dust and goes straight for the jugular, foreshadowing both punk and heavy metal in the process. It's a show that makes Blue Cheer sound like Pat Boone, Cream sound like Britney Spears, and Blak Sabbath sound like... a slightly tamer version of Black Sabbath.



The record features barn-burning renditions of "I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)" and "Get Me To The World On Time," both of which sizzle with more intensity and feedback-coated passion than their studio counterparts. Same goes for the grindin' "Try Me On For Size," which is souped up into a nearly ten-minute long jam fest that does not overstay its welcome. The relatively obscure "You've Never Had It Better" sounds ridiculously good here, with its attitude-soaked vocals and nasty guitars. "I Happen To Love You" is a cathartic, apocalyptic show-stealer (believe it or not, this was originally written for the Monkees!), and "Long Day's Flight ('Til Tomorrow)" sounds just plain awesome. To top it off, their are also two seething blues covers ("I Got My Mojo Working" and "Smokestack Lightening"). All in all, an awesome chunk 'o rock. Get it!"

Long, overdue release

Joseph L. Kolb | harris, mn USA | 05/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Probably one of the best live recordings I have heard from the 60's. The quality is just excellent. The music itself is also excellent. The prunes do their top 2 hits; too much to dream and get me to the earth on time. The music plays on a combination of psychedelia and blues. I would highly recommend getting this in vinyl as the packaging is beautiful, with extensive liner notes and a portfolio booklet of photograhs. The disk itself is extremely heavy. Ya don't have to worry about this puppy warping!

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