Monday, May 25, 2009

The Changin' Times on SHIVAREE (1965)

The Changin' Times were two L.A. based songwriters, Artie Kornfeld and Steve Duboff. They recorded the original, punky version of "The Pied Piper" in a sort of Sonny Bono-goes-garage style in 1965. The next year it would be a top 5 hit for Crispian St. Peters in a much poppier, MOR arrangement.



Also in 1965 the Changin' Times recorded the great fuzz-punker "How Is The Air Up There?". 



"How Is The Air Up There?" was covered by New Zealand's La De Da's in 1966 (a version which found a new audience when it was included on the Nuggets II compliation in 2001). According to Wikipedia the flip side of "How Is The Air Up There?" was a cover of "The Pied Piper".

"How Is The Air Up There?" has also been recorded by The Blues Magoos (where the La De Da's first heard it) and The Bangles in the early '80s, though I've never heard those versions.

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