This episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM had some snarly fuzz and snappy beats before we settled into some lovely psych treats. Lately I've been listening to a lot more fast and short garage rock. Is it because the heat has been melting my brain? Who knows. Judging from the appearance of Halloween decorations in every store, it seems we're heading into fall but the 100+ weather makes me think we're rocketing towards a permanent summer. If things stay like this, everyone's gonna have to wear spacesuits when they walk their dogs!
Anywho, if you missed the show, be sure to check out the KUCR Archive and peep the drop-down menu where you can find episodes you might have missed.
I didn't talk much during this episode, so this blog post will mostly just be a playlist, but I did mention a couple stories about The Smoke (New Zealand band), who you heard play No More Now, a heavy track with some wild exotic sounding leads. Everything I read about The Smoke came from a website named Audio Culture, so check out their article on the band if you want to read about scummy promoters, a nude model leading to member changes, and other interesting tidbits.
Later in the show, you heard The Delights with their song Just Out of Reach. The band only released a couple singles before becoming The Hudson Bay Company which was more of a sunshine pop type band. Interestingly, Norb Soltysiak, who played saxophone and sang with both groups, went on to record with The Hardy Boys, a band that performed on a forgotten Filmation cartoon with the same name. Like most cartoons by Filmation, everything was a little rough and obviously produced with fast turnarounds and a tight budget in mind. In particular, the voice acting is probably more grating than other cartoons from the same era.
After their success with another cartoon band, The Archies (Sugar, Sugar), Filmation must have seen The Hardy Boys as a similar avenue for entering the Bubblegum Pop market because they released two full-length albums which sound like continuations of their work with The Archies. The rights to the show seem to be in some sort of limbo, so if you want to check it out, it's fairly easy to find episodes online, just don't expect the best quality. Also, I found a Facebook group based on The Hardy Boys which has some more in-depth information on the group including old newspaper articles, promotions, and photographs of the band performing live in front of real audiences.
And that's it for this episode! Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm PST or listen to an archived version of the show here. You can also listen through KUCR.org, Radio Garden, or Tune-In.
Check out this week's playlist below:
