PAUL "BLOWFISH" LOVELL

The Bosstown Sound

or The Boston Sound

Eden's Children

Orpheus

The Ultimate Spinach

Beacon Street Union



The ad that started it all.

Billboard January 20, 1968

The Bosstown Sound Campaign....

Flyer for a Tea Party gig done by the group from the second week of opening featuring The Lost and The Hallucinations.

The Ultimate Spinach, Beacon Street Union and Orpheus

To understand the times and the music you must know...

One subject I can't let go by and that is - drugs. This was the era of LSD and marijuana and the music is influenced by that in a big way. It's obvious by the album covers and group names: Ultimate Spinach , need I say more. To understand and appreciate the music and the lyrics you have to take drugs into consideration. You don't have to take the drugs. I never did. The clips from the radio show I have below give a good window into the mindset of this time. People talked 'stoned' even when they weren't stoned. That's how much influence the drug culture had on teenagers in the sixties.

To me this is so obvious that I think you don't have to talk about it but so much time has gone by that someone coming fresh from the outside may not understand.

Another subject is the Vietnam War. This was going on at the time and teenagers were getting drafted and not liking it. The anti-war and anti-establishment attitudes come through in many lyrics. It is taken as a given that if you were a rocker in the late sixties you hated the war and the government that forced you to go to war. Again an obvious thing, but if you didn't live through it or are from outside the USA maybe you have to be informed.

The pre-Bosstown Sound scene

A few of the groups that played dances are on these Teen Scene LPs but most were never recorded.

A little more about this era.

The Surf Nantasket

Crosstown Bus

Crosstown Bus

Teddy and the Pandas

Puff

Ramrods

The Chosen Few

Here's infomation on a documentary called The High School That Rocked! This film gives the whole vibe of this era, Click for The High School That Rocked!

Finding the music in The Clubs and elsewhere

Boston Tea Party

The Catacombs

Where It's At

The Psychedelic Supermarket

The Ark

The Crosstown Bus

Beacon Street Union

Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party

The Tea Party

Boston Tea Party Links Here is a list of shows at the Tea Party and pictures of The Jeff Beck Group and Jimmy Page on stage plus more....More Boston Tea Party information.

This is a report on the 40th Anniversary Celebration for The BostonTea Party set up by the Music Museum of New England in January of 2007 .

set up by the in January of 2007 . The Ill Wind site has a little info and a picture. CLICK HERE

The Psychedelic Supermarket

The Psychedelic Supermarket

The Catacombs

The Catacombs

The Universal Underpass

The Crosstown Bus

I talked about this just above, but a little more. Retired Boston rock critic Steve Morse did some reminiscing in the 4/9/06 issue of The Boston Magazine (It's reiterated here.). "I slapped high-fives with crazed rock poet Jim Morrison of The Doors as he zigzagged through a crowd at The Crosstown Bus in Brighton, where hippie girls danced in go-go cages and tinfoil adorned the walls for a psychedelic ambience."

Here are two pictures of the building that housed the Crosstown Bus......Crosstown Bus Photos...click.

One of the few gigs I have seen listed is of Lothar and the Hand People on July 21, 22 1967

Local Brighton/Allston webpage that has some posters - http://www.bahistory.org/RockHistory.html

Earlier when I used to go, it was a nice, if plain, room with a high ceiling. Another strictly 60's thing used to happen there. The police station was just around the corner and because shielded cables were not universally used at this time the wires were like antennas and the police calls came though the PA system. The band would play on if they could but many times it was too long and too obtrusive and they would have to stop. Those were the days, my friend.

Boston was Red Sox crazy in 67- 68 (somethings never change) to the point where they gave Sox player Ken 'The Hawk' Harrelson his own TV special. He had the Beacon Street Union on. I saw it but don't remember much. Wayne Ulaky says he remembers the group at the taping laughing at Pat Cooper the comedian guest on the show. Later in the 80's I had singer John Lincoln Wright sign the clipping. In the picture you can see his pouch hanging from his belt. There just HAD to be drugs in that, didn't there?

The Groups and Albums

Here are some updates on Bosstown Sound attention, plus info on new releases of Boston Sound albums. UPDATED INFO and REVIEWS

Boston Radio and the Brandeis Underground radio show

WBCN bumper sticker

Courtesy of Joan Kershaw.

WBCN

WBCN

WBZ

WMEX

WBZ-AM

Ultimate Spinach

College radio was another outlet. Here are some broadcast clips from WBRS at Brandeis in Waltham, MA called The Sounds Of The Underground . I have about 45 minutes from the broadcast on February 28 and 29, 1968. The show was on from 1AM to 4AM. Guests on the 29th were Eden's Children . It's a great look into the time of the Boston Sound and the mindset of the rockers.

MP3 Clips from WBRS 2/28-29/1968

Intro

The DJ introduces the show and members of Eden's Children thow out comments in the studio.

The DJ introduces the show and members of thow out comments in the studio. Poll

The results of a Boston Sound poll.

The results of a Boston Sound poll. Boston Sound Pep Talk

This revealing clip shows hometown Boston Sound fans trying to cope with the negative uproar of the Bosstown Sound hype.

This revealing clip shows hometown Boston Sound fans trying to cope with the negative uproar of the Bosstown Sound hype. Song request.

Song request turns to drug joke.

Song request turns to drug joke. Cancellations

Funny fake winter cancellation announcements.

Funny fake winter cancellation announcements. Origin of Eden's Children's name.

It is revealed that Jimmy Struman was the original member of the band. A Rolling Stones album is refered to: December's Children.

name. It is revealed that Jimmy Struman was the original member of the band. A Rolling Stones album is refered to: December's Children. Spider

Eden's Children member is intrigued by article on the effect of drugs on spiders.

Eden's Children member is intrigued by article on the effect of drugs on spiders. Unicorn

I think this is Sham talking about playing the Unicorn Coffee House with members of The Ultimate Spinach .

I think this is Sham talking about playing the Unicorn Coffee House with members of . Comics

Fun talk by Eden's Children about: Capt. Kangaroo, Clarabelle, Flubba Dub, Mad Love Comics, Wit's End Comic, and Sham says "shit" and gets busted by the fake FCC.

The Zeitgeist

Ad by Mainstream Records that was in Billboard and other publications. Tangerine Zoo with The Amboy Dukes and The Tiffany Shade

Books

Isaac Asimov

Ray Bradbury

Philip K. Dick

Arthur C. Clark

Robert Heinlein's

Stanger In A Stange Land

Ian Fleming

Herman Hesse's

Arthur Hailey

Airport

John Updike

Couples

Gore Vidal

Myra Breckinridge

The Prophet

Kahlil Gibran

Portnoy's Complaint

Roth

The Godfather

Puzo

The Andromeda Strain

Crichton

Films

2001:A Space Odyssey

Barbarella

Planet of the Apes

Rosemary's Baby

Polansky's

The Graduate

The Valley of The Dolls

Romeo and Juliet

Franco Zeffirelli

Midnight Cowboy

TV

Star Trek

Rowan and Martin's

Laugh-In

The Prisoner

Diana Rigg

The Avengers

Ed Sullivan

The Smothers Brothers Show

Postscript