The cliche is that if you remember the 60s you weren't there.

Over the decades countless compilations of 60s music have been released. These generally exploited the more commercial side of the music. This focus on radio hits reduces the music of that era to the lowest common denominator. Although there's some great music that achieved commercial success, if you think you know the 60s based on that, you're wrong.

On this post I want to share with you some of the best music from the 60s you probably don't know. It's music from three super groups which failed due to things like drugs, egos, ruthless management, and mental instability.

One really fortuitous thing about this vinyl era was that the recording industry generated a lot of money, and this enabled groups to spend lots of time in top studios with gifted engineers and ample resources for lavish productions. Do yourself a favor and listen with headphones.

Buffalo Springfield

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are a super group lots of people are familiar with, but prior to its formation there was a group called Buffalo Springfield. This band included Neil Young, Steven Still, and Richie Furay (known from the band Poco.) The band was together from 1966 to 1968, they had a big hit “For What It's Worth” but their second album in 1967 “Buffalo Springfield: Again” was one of the more memorable albums from the 60s.

Egos, drug arrests, deportations, and in-fighting doomed this group to failure. Frankly they weren't a great live act, but in the studio they were. Stills and Young each controlled the production of the songs they wrote, so this album it is almost like an aggregation of solo projects.

Buffalo Springfield (Neil Young) “Expecting to Fly”

BTW this is an extrodinarly well done music video

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Buffalo Springfield (Steven Stills) “Bluebird”

Electric Flag

Mike Bloomfield was one of the top blues/rock guitarists from the 1960s (Bob Dylan called him the greatest guitarist he ever worked with -- Mike played on “Like a Rolling Stone.”) He was famous from his time with Paul Butterfield's Blues Band, and his albums “Super Sessions” and the live version “Live Adventures” which were iconic albums in the 60s.

With that kind of pedigree Columbia opened it's checkbook and gave him the freedom to put together a band. To a certain extent, many of the bands from the 60s were the creme de la creme of the amateur garage bands. The Electric Flag was different, they were seasoned professional musicians with solid chops. A tight horn section, a top session player on bass, solid organist, and a drummer Bloomfield poached from Wilson Pickett's band – Buddy Miles, who eventually became a star on his own, working with Hendrix and Santana.

Serious drug abuse plagued this band, and eventually claimed Mike Bloomfield's life. Their 1968 album “A Long Time Comin'” is a celebration of Americana: R&B, blues, soul, with hints of jazz. 1968 was a time of tremendous upheavals in America, 18 year old boys were being sent off to die in Vietnam.

There was a spirit of revolution in the air, and the song below Find Yourself Another Country captures the spirit of the times. It fuses 5 pieces of music: a R&B protest song urging draft aged men to find another country, then a chaotic psychedelic interlude with President Johnson's voice mixed in, then a beautiful jazz influenced bit of guitar, then a blues guitar explosion.

Moby Grape

Lots of talent, but doomed from the outset by a ruthless manager, egos, drug abuse, and two schizophrenic members – one tried to murder a bandmate with a hotel emergency fire ax, and was committed to a mental institution for 6 months. Personally, I don't feel their music has withstood the test of time well, but there are a few exceptions. This song, “Miller's Blues” is one of the best blues songs recorded by a white group in that era.

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Thanks for stopping by!

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Morgenseiten is a tag created by @shortcut for morning stream of consciousness posts.

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Photo: YouTube Screen Capture with effects by @roused