“Pretty much everybody took a swing at the Batman theme back in the 60s, but Link Wray‘s take wins because it’s just so dirty (the guitar that is) without losing any of the fun. Which is key. Because as far as I’m concerned, there’s still only one Batman worth talking about, and that’s the 1960s TV version, the Adam West Batman, the mod-pop technicolour silly Batman, in the wake of which all these more recent brooding, shadowy versions just seem sillier.” (Philip Random)
In which young Frank Zappa (with help from his Mothers) files his report on the Watts Rebellion (aka riots) of August 1965, pulling no punches lyrically or musically. In fact, it’s the song that got the band signed to MGM Records in the first place, producer Tom Wilson having heard it and decided, yeah, a white blues band from LA, why the hell not? The rest is, shall we say, history.
A Bob Dylan discard from the already overloaded Blonde on Blonde sessions that eventually showed up on 1985’s Biograph box set (and any number of bootlegs). A straight up rocker with surrealism in its heart – what more could any culture want? How about a version to link to anywhere on the world wide web?
Donovan’s gotten a raw deal over the years, oft dismissed as that hippie-dippy lightweight who got his ass handed to him by Bob Dylan in that movie. But actually listen to the music, particularly some of the non radio hits, and a fuller picture emerges of a guy that was onto something uniquely his own, both musically (working the psychedelic edges with some very hot players) and lyrically: go looking for a good girl, end up at the edge of Hades, facing down the legions of Lucifer himself. Such are the blues. Just ask Bert.
The Turtles get serious and psychedelic with a little ditty about the grim reaper who murdered love. Found on the same album as Happy Together. Things were different then.
Randophonic 