Fever Tree / Skip Bifferty (1968 Houston & Newcastle) | Psych Rock | Vinyl Stream

For today's psychedelic trip this morning I'm spinning two 1968 albums back to back - the self-titled Fever Tree debut on UNI Records 73024, original Monarch pressing, and the self-titled Skip Bifferty album on RCA Victor SF 7941, original UK stereo pressing with John Peel liner notes. 00:00 Intro 02:38 Fever Tree starts 43:23 Skip Bifferty starts 1:26:04 Juicy Lucy starts 2:03:42 close Fever Tree formed in Houston in 1966 as The Bostwick Vines. Guitarist Michael Knust recruited vocalist Dennis Keller - his own guitar student - and they added keyboardist Rob Landes in 1967. His classical training brought baroque and orchestral elements that make this record unlike anything else from the Texas psych scene. Producers Scott and Vivian Holtzman wrote or co-wrote ten of the eleven tracks. The album opens with a mashup of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor with original psych rock. "San Francisco Girls" hit number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100. Dennis Keller eventually formed Fever Tree Rising with Mark Andes on bass - formerly of Spirit, Firefall, and Heart. Skip Bifferty evolved from The Chosen Few, a Newcastle band working since 1962. When Alan Hull left - he later founded Lindisfarne and wrote "Fog on the Tyne" - Graham Bell replaced him and the band renamed themselves after a cartoon character Colin Gibson created at art school. They were discovered by Don Arden - father of Sharon Osbourne - at the Marquee Club. Their single "Man In Black" was produced by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane of the Small Faces. John Peel wrote the liner notes. The album never charted but the musicians outlasted it significantly. Mick Gallagher and John Turnbull both ended up in Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Two 1968 albums. Houston Texas and Newcastle England. Neither one broke through the way they should have. Both worth your time. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinyl_piper/ Full vinyl rips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj0yF7-9YQ9pEOi1yCUyAZikNmWVdz8Hn Shop: https://vinylpipershop.com/ #FeverTree #SkipBifferty #PsychRock #VinylStream #VinylPiper #MorningStream #HoustonPsych #BritishPsych #1968 #RareVinyl #BaroquePsych #JohnPeel