My Favourite 45s of the Year: 1968 Quiz

Answer: Love

Love were formed in Los Angeles by Arthur Lee, a talented song-writer, as a kind of psychedelic / garage band; unusually for those times the band was multi-racial. I was drawn to their music when I heard John Peel play a track called "The Castle" off their 1966 album, "Da Capo". In November 1967 they released their third album, "Forever Changes", with the single "Alone Again Or" being released in January 1968.

The song is a work of art, with the singer anticipating a meeting with his girlfriend but set to a rather downbeat instrumentation, especially the acoustic guitar solo at the end. The main glory is the soaring strings-dominated middle section, with an added horn part from a mariachi band that still sends shivers up and down my spine.

An edited version of the song got to number 123 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968, with a longer version reaching number 99 in that chart in 1970; it didn't chart in the UK. However, the band's present critical reputation now far exceeds the limited success they enjoyed during their time together: "Alone Again Or" was included in both the 2004 and 2010 "Rolling Stone" lists of the 500 greatest songs of all time. However, the less said about the 1987 cover version by the British punk rock band The Damned, the better.

Answer: John Mayall

John Mayall's Bluesbreakers went through endless changes of personnel in the mid-60s, but by 1968 they had settled into a four-piece with Mick Taylor on guitar, Stephen Thompson on bass and Colin Allen on drums joining John Mayall; by then he'd dropped "Bluesbreakers" from the band's name. Mayall had just returned from a trip to Laurel Canyon in California, and the album "Blues from Laurel Canyon" was the result of this. It also spawned an excellent single, "The Bear", talking about his visit to the band Canned Heat - "the sun is shining down and the Bear [Bob Hite] is rolling in the shade".

It's a great, up-tempo song with excellent guitar work from Mick Taylor, especially on the long intro. Sadly it totally failed to chart either in the UK or in the US, but when I arrived at Exeter University in October 1968 it was on the jukebox in the coffee bar, and I played it to death!

Mick Taylor wasn't happy with Mayall and left the band soon afterwards - his next gig was as lead guitarist with the Rolling Stones at their free concert in Hyde Park in 1969. Now that's what I call a step up!

Answer: The Nice

The Nice were formed as a backing band for P. P. Arnold but soon struck out on their own; their brand of embryonic prog-rock, jazz and classical music along with keyboard player Keith Emerson's unique playing style and showmanship attracted large crowds. I know - I was at one of their gigs on a hot, sweaty summer night in the Marquee Club in London when they broke the attendance record!

They released their second single in June 1968, an instrumental version of Sondheim and Bernstein's "America" from "West Side Story". It was terrific, a hard pounding 4/4 rhythm with lots of Emerson's twiddly bits on top. It concludes with a little girl's voice saying "America is pregnant with promise and anticipation but is murdered by the hand of the inevitable" - an attitude that was carried forward to a gig at the Royal Albert Hall in July when Emerson burnt a US flag on stage. "America" turned out to be their only chart hit, reaching number 21 in the UK Singles Chart; it wasn't released in the US (no surprise there!).

The band soon broke up after Emerson's departure to form the stadium giant prog-rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Sadly he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2016.

Answer: Canned Heat

Canned Heat, a blues/rock/psychedelic band, formed in LA in 1965 and made a real mark at the Monterey Festival in 1967. Their second album, "Boogie with Canned Heat", included "On the Road Again" which became a wordwide hit reaching number 16 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number eight in the UK Singles Chart. Based on an early blues song by Tommy Johnson and Floyd Jones, it was written and sung by Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson rather than by lead singer Bob "The Bear" Hite (the same Bob Hite that entertained John Mayall). His distinctive high voice and the song's droning instrumentation made it a very unusual.

Sadly, after a couple of successful years the band lost both its lead singers and consequently suffered from multiple comings and goings; it never really functioned properly after Bob Hite's death.

I used to hitchhike from Exeter to London and back on the A303, and this song always went through my mind as I raised my thumb to get the first lift of the trip! Oh - and if you want a real treat take a butchers at the video on YouTube of the "Top of the Pops" audience from February 1970 dancing to Canned Heat's "Let's Work Together"!

RIP: Alan Wilson, 1943-1970; Bob Hite, 1943-1981

Answer: Glen Campbell

After Jimmy Webb wrote "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" for Glen Campbell, Campbell asked him to write another "place" song. The result was the wonderful "Wichita Lineman" - Webb had been driving along a country road in Oklahoma following a line of telephone poles when he'd seen a lineman up one of them. He said that it was a "vivid, cinematic image" that was "the picture of loneliness". He wrote an incomplete demo of the song, but Campbell seized upon it and recorded it straight away.

The backing music was provided by members of the Wrecking Crew, and the legendary bass guitarist Carol Kaye provided the six-note intro. Glen Campbell's baritone guitar solo is lovely, and as for the lyrics - "And I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time" - well, you'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by that! It reached number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number seven in the UK Singles Chart.

Thought by some people - for example, the British music journalist Stuart Maconie - to be the best song ever written, "Wichita Lineman" is a true classic. It's been covered countless times, even by Guns'n'Roses! It was included in the 2010 "Rolling Stone" list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, ranked at number 206.

Answer: Marvin Gaye

The song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" had a rather checkered career. Written in 1966, it was first recorded by the Miracles but not released. Then it was recorded by Marvin Gaye in early 1967, but again not released. Finally Gladys Knight & The Pips took it to number two in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in late September of that year. However Gaye's version languished on an album ("In the Groove") until Berry Gordy authorised its release in October 1968. It went to number one in both the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (for seven weeks!) and in the UK Singles Chart. It was ranked at number 80 in the 2004 "Rolling Stone" lists of the 500 greatest songs of all time, and at number 81 in the 2010 list.

The Marvin Gaye version of the song was re-released in the UK in 1985 to coincide with its use in an advert for Levi's 501 jeans; it got to number eight in the UK Singles Chart. And look out for the 11-minute version by Creedence Clearwater Revival, which really chugs along!

I vividly remember dancing to this at a Uni hop with a drop-dead gorgeous woman from the year above me - I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when she snuggled in for a slow dance!

Answer: Cream

Opening with Jack Bruce's terrific bass guitar riff and Ginger Baker's tom-tom drum rhythm, Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" is instantly recognisable. It was originally included in the band's second album, "Disraeli Gears", in November 1967, but was released as a single in the US the next month. For some reason its release in the UK was delayed until September 1968. It got to number five in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 25 in the UK Singles Chart; the relatively modest placing in the UK was probably due to everyone having the album! It was ranked at number 65 in the 2004 "Rolling Stone" lists of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Quizzers outside the UK might be unaware of Jimi Hendrix performing this song live on an episode of "Happening for Lulu" TV programme in January 1969, after Cream had announced their break-up. It's on YouTube and it's brilliant!

Answer: Steppenwolf

Possibly the first heavy metal song, "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf was symbolic of the late 1960s counterculture in the US, from the majestic opening riff to the lyrics - "heavy metal thunder", referring to motor bikes and biker gangs. It received little airplay here in the UK, but when "Easy Rider" was released the next year it was played everywhere.

It reached number two in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 30 in the UK Singles Chart, and it was ranked at number 129 in the 2004 "Rolling Stone" lists of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Answer: Aretha Franklin

Burt Bacharach and Hal David originally wrote "I Say a Little Prayer For You" for Dionne Warwick, and her recording of it reached number four in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1967. However a few months later Aretha Franklin and her backing singers were fooling around with the song in the recording studio and decided to record it. Quite different from Warwick's rather brisk version, Franklin's cover was altogether smoother with a prominent piano part.

It reached number ten in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number four in the UK Singles Chart (Franklin's best UK chart placing as a solo artist).

It was ranked at number 117 in the 2021 "Rolling Stone" lists of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Diana King's reggae version from 1997 is also worth checking out.

Answer: The Band

When I first heard "The Weight" by The Band on their debut album "Music from Big Pink" I hated it - the words that sprang to mind were plodding and leaden. However the more I listened to it the more I liked it, mainly for the strange lyrics. It reached number 63 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 21 in the UK Singles Chart.

It was ranked at number 41 in the 2004 "Rolling Stone" lists of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The Scottish band Nazareth took their name from the first line of this song: "I pulled in to Nazareth, was feeling 'bout half past dead; I just need some place where I could lay my head".

The song has a wonderful atmosphere of melancholy.