Nicky, Ricky, Roger, and Davey were in the van on a way to a gig on this day in 1968.  "Shall we pick Syd up?" one of them asked. "Let's not bother." was the answer. It's not like he was still an active member of the band. He had long since ceased to contribute both in the studio and on stage....unless his stage presence was supposed to provide a focal point for the freak show. After writing and singing most of their first album, he only wrote one song on the second and played on two more. Another pair of songs were recorded but for release as a single, but remained unreleased until 2016.  At first they discussed keeping Syd on as a non-performing member, writing songs like Brian Wilson did for the Beach Boys. What might that have sounded like? He only had one song on  A Saucerful of Secrets  , and it is debatable whether the inclusion of the unreleased single would have improved it.  What about  More ? It has a spacey, folksy songs interspersed with the ...

This week saw the passing of Vanilla Fudge bassist and Jeff Beck sideman, Tim Bogert, New York Dolls guitarist, Sylvain Sylvain, and the "Tycoon of Teen" and whack-a-doo, Phil Spector. Until recently, I didn't really appreciate Phil's work. He was the guy who gunked up Let it Be . He was also the one who tried to give the Ramones some radio play with End of the Century . Many fault him for gunking that one up as well, but I like it. It is an outlier of a Ramones album, but it was my introduction to the band.  When my children were little, and wanted to watch High School Musical - AGAIN - I suggested we watch Rock and Roll High School Musical . I turned down the volume and put End of the Century on repeat. The kids went outside to play, and I found at least 17 points of synchronicity....more than the Dark Side of the Rainbow. As far as Phil's "wall of sound", that was the period of the "girl groups" that occupied - along with Motown - the per...