| The Electric Prunes | |
|---|---|
| Origin | San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Acid rock Psychedelic rock Garage rock |
| Years active | 1965–1970 1999–2011 |
| Labels | Reprise Records Heartbeat Productions Birdman Records Heartbeat |
| Website | http://www.electricprunes.net/ |
| Members | |
| James Lowe Ken Williams Steve Kara Jay Dean Walter Garces |
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| Past members | |
| Kenny Loggins Michael "Quint" Fortune Preston Ritter James "Weasel" Spagnola Mike Gannon Joe Dooley Mark Moulin Cameron Lowe Peter Lewis Mark Tulin (deceased) "New Improved" Electric Prunes Members: John Herron Brett Wade Ron Morgan Mark Kincaid Dick Whetstone |
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The Electric Prunes are an American rock band who first achieved international attention as an experimental psychedelic group in the late 1960s. Their song "Kyrie Eleison" was featured on the soundtrack of Easy Rider. After a period in which they had little control over their music, they disappeared for thirty years, reformed in 1999, then resumed as a recording and touring band in 2001.
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The group started in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, though during the group's long disbandment, rumors circulated that they were from Seattle. Their first hit was discovered by Seattle disk jockey Pat O'Day at KJR (AM) and was very popular in that city before it broke into the national charts. The founding members, Ken Williams (guitar), James Lowe (lead vocal, autoharp), Michael Weakley and eventually Joe Dooley (drums) and Mark Tulin (bass) called themselves The Sanctions, and later, Jim and the Lords. Soon, Dick Hargrave joined on organ, but left shortly afterwards to pursue graphic arts. Their lineup changed many times, including one lineup with Kenny Loggins.
Lowe, Tulin, Williams and Weakley were introduced to David Hassinger, then resident engineer at RCA studios, who arranged for them to record some demos at Leon Russell's home recording facility (which he called Sky Hill Studios). Hassinger also suggested they needed a new name. In response, the band produced a long list of suggestions, with The Electric Prunes last as a joke.
A single Ain't It Hard/Little Olive was released from these sessions, and flopped.
The Prunes' next single, "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" (1966), was chosen from material Hassinger culled from the established songwriting team of Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz. It remains their highest charting success, reaching 11 in the USA and 49 in the UK. Personnel included Jim Lowe on vocals, James "Weasel" Spagnola and Ken Williams on guitar, Mark Tulin on bass and Preston Ritter on drums. This is regarded by many as the classic Prunes lineup.
Their third single, Get Me to the World on Time, was also successful but less so, peaking at 27 in the USA and 42 in the UK. Both their first album, The Electric Prunes: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) (1967) and consisting mainly of Tucker/Mantz material, and the followup Underground (1967) which featured mainly original Prunes material, charted in the lower reaches of the Billboard charts.
By the time Underground was complete, there had been several more personnel changes. Original drummer Weakley returned to replace Ritter, and Spagnola was replaced on guitar by Mike Gannon, who appears on only two songs. Their fourth single, Everybody Knows You're Not In Love, was recorded by this line-up, but does not appear on this album.
At the suggestion of manager Lenny Poncher, the Prunes's third album, Mass in F Minor (1968), was a psychedelicized setting of the Mass, written and produced by David Axelrod. Initial work on the arrangements was done by Mark Tulin, but it became clear during the recording that Axelrod's intentions outstripped the band's technical abilities, Jim Lowe commenting that "David Axelrod was so far above what we, as a garage band, were able to deliver."[1] The band reportedly broke up during the recording, and Axelrod completed the album using Canadian band The Collectors[2] and session musicians. A tour had been planned to follow the album release, but it was cancelled after one disastrous show at which it was obvious that the Prunes couldn't play the music, some of which they had seen for the first time only a few days before the concert. Nevertheless, the album became somewhat of an underground favorite. Kyrie Eleison from this record was used to back the dinner scene wherein Billy was trying to convince a grief-stricken Captain America to go to Mardi Gras to get laid and do drugs in the movie Easy Rider.
This was followed by Release of An Oath (1968), another religious-themed work composed and arranged by Axelrod, this time combining Jewish and Christian liturgy. It was produced by David Hassinger using top session musicians for all instruments, backing the Prunes's vocal work.
The following album Just Good Old Rock and Roll (1969) was recorded by another, completely different, group of musicians, originally from Colorado, who were assigned the Prunes's name, which was not legally owned by Hassinger (according to James Lowe in a recent interview). The album cover read the new improved Electric Prunes to reflect the new lineup, although the group name remained the same. This band toured and also released a single on Reprise Records in 1969, but dissolved early in 1970.
Through the inclusion of their classic "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" on the seminal Nuggets compilation of 1960s psychedelic gems the Electric Prunes continued to reach new fans in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. That track in particular has been a regular of psychedelic bands through the decades including Australia's Prince Vlad & the Gargoyle Impalers in the early-to-mid 1980s. The track was recorded by psychedelic punks The Damned in the 1980s, under their alter ego of Naz Nomad and the Nightmares, and was also a feature of The Damned's live set in the mid-1980s. XTC, recording under the name Dukes of Stratosphear also paid homage to the song on their song "25 O'Clock" which emulates the style of the song. It was also recorded by Webb Wilder and the Beatnecks for their album "Doo Dad", and featured in the "trip" sequence in Webb's movie "Horror Hayride". A Patrick Cowley-produced Hi-NRG version, simply entitled "Too Much to Dream", was released in 1983 by Paul Parker as part of an album of the same name.
The late 1990s saw renewed interest in the Electric Prunes, with the release on Heartbeat Records of Stockholm, a concert recorded by the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation while the (original) Prunes were on tour there in 1967. Heartbeat also issued an early collection of recordings by The Sanctions and Jim and The Lords, recovered from unplayed 35-year-old acetates.
After a period of 30 years, the original quartet of Lowe, Tulin, Williams and Weakley met in the studio in 1999 to consider a revival. As a result Lowe, Tulin and Williams (the three who had played on all the early recordings) were joined by two new members, including James Lowe's son, to reform the band. They began touring internationally in 2001, and in 2002 released a new recording titled Artifact and a DVD album called Rewired.
Continuing the momentum in 2007, the trio of Lowe, Tulin, and Williams released a new CD entitled Feedback, a hook-laden orgy of tremolo, reverb, rollicking drums and hilariously juvenile lyrics ("I have to off myself just to get away from you") that was heard by too few critics but hailed as a masterpiece by some of those who did, including author Elizabeth Hand, who blogged, "'Feedback' is truly one of the best albums I've heard in years. Anyone who's expecting an oldies nostalgia act is going to be wicked disappointed: these guys sound like they're still twenty years old with something to prove."
The Prunes have also taken up residence in MySpace and Facebook, reaching out to fans new and old.
In 2007, the rock band The Verve ran the track "Holy Are You" before their concerts.
They were mentioned in Thomas Pynchon's 2009 novel Inherent Vice (pg. 103) and receive a shoutout from James Murphy in the LCD Soundsystem classic single "Losing My Edge."
The band is now recording and touring with a new drummer, Walter Garces, who has been called the "drum guru" of L.A. They are currently recording new tracks with musician and producer Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins.
On February 26, 2011, founding member Tulin collapsed while helping out at the Avalon Underwater Clean-Up in Avalon, California. Baywatch Avalon and Avalon Fire Department medics responded immediately, but he could not be revived and was pronounced dead.[3] Since Mr. Tulin's sudden death, there have been no public activities by the band.