Favorite Electric Prunes Anything-- Thoughts?

beccabear67 · Jul 1, 2020

There's a CD of early Prunes under other band names for those who like the early garagey group...

James Lowe, Ken Williams, Mark Tulin, Mike Weakley and Dick Hargrave in both groups. A fair number of covers but the sound quality is pretty good I think.

FredHubbard · Jul 4, 2020

Platterpus said: ↑

Lost Dreams is an excellent compilation. The sound is less bass shy and richer in sound most likely due to the remixing. Four of the tracks are the original full length restored versions before being edited down for the common LP/CD released versions. "Long Day's Flight" adds an additional 2 minutes of music with extra killer feedback and droning. "Dr. Do-Good" goes on for an extra 20 seconds. "The Great Banana Hoax" goes on for about 25 more seconds. "Hideaway" is extended by about 50 seconds as well. These extended versions are exclusive to this comp. and are available nowhere else AFAIK. The notes and commentary by James Lowe are of interest. Plus there are two previously unreleased cuts and a stray song from a 60s movie that was originally released only as a promo single. The two unreleased cuts are stereo on this compilation but I believe they are mono on the 'Too Much To Dream: The Original Group Recordings Reprise 1966-1967" 2CD set. Sundazed released a 45rpm for RSD a few years back for these two songs and they are mono on there as well. IMO, every Electric Prunes CD and/or compilation has something to offer depending upon what you want (mixes, stereo/mono etc.) and how much of a completest one is for this band.
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Just bought Lost Dreams off the back of comments on this thread and it is by far the best sound Prunes (Stockholm live excluded) that I own. So thank you for the heads up. Always thought they sounded a bit weedy in the studio but they sound tough and lovely on this compilation.

Houseplants · Aug 19, 2020

Can anyone comment on the best vinyl version of Release of an Oath?

The repress is cheaper and 180 gram.

TheDailyBuzzherd · Aug 19, 2020

FredHubbard said: ↑

Just bought Lost Dreams off the back of comments on this thread and it is by far the best sound Prunes (Stockholm live excluded) that I own. So thank you for the heads up. Always thought they sounded a bit weedy in the studio but they sound tough and lovely on this compilation.
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Live, they were a force. More together than even The Yardbirds, iMO.
Strange all the crap that happened to 'em. Management SUCKS.

Sebastian saglimbenI · Aug 19, 2020

I have a 5 c.d. ORIGINAL ALBUM Set of THE ELECTRIC PRUNES....worth tracking down....

FredHubbard · Aug 19, 2020

TheDailyBuzzherd said: ↑

Live, they were a force. More together than even The Yardbirds, iMO.
Strange all the crap that happened to 'em. Management SUCKS.
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Strong posting re: Yardbirds!!!

CliffL · Aug 19, 2020

Personally I love the group (I have the mono singles CD) and I can remember when "I Had To Much To Dream" was on the radio (I was in sixth grade).

speedracer · Aug 19, 2020

dewey02 said: ↑

Mass in F Minor
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Monumental record! I'm sure this will be old hat to the Prune heads, but for the archaeologists here - Prunes' Mass In F Minor is playing in the Easy Rider New Orleans bordello scene, just before they and the ladies take a trip thru the City of the Dead.

TheDailyBuzzherd · Aug 19, 2020

speedracer said: ↑

Monumental record! I'm sure this will be old hat to the Prune heads, but for the archaeologists here - Mass In F Minor is playing in the Easy Rider New Orleans bordello scene, just before they and the ladies take a trip thru the City of the Dead.

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... and, that IS The Prunes playing on that song.

Concentration Moon · Dec 25, 2020

Godbluff said: ↑

Back in 2002 the family and me were down in Kent for the Canterbury Fayre festival, there was a great line-up that year, including the Electric Prunes playing their first UK date since 1967. When we checked into the Holiday Inn, just down the road from the festival site, we discovered that many of the bands were also staying there including the Prunes, who were staying the full weekend in order to catch their old mate Arthur Lee on the last day of the festival. I'd first heard I Had Too Much To Dream on Lenny Kaye's Nuggets compilation, which led me to tracking down everything I could find by them, but in a way the albums asked more questions than they answered. Why did they totally change direction after the second album and why did the line-up change completely after the third? Seeing Mark Tulin hanging around in reception I thought it was too good an opportunity to miss, so I introduced myself and over the next half hour he took me through a detailed history of the band and filled in all the blanks. Slowly all the rest of the band arrived and we got to know them really well, meeting each morning at breakfast and numerous time through the day at the festival. They were genuinely knocked out that people in the UK not only knew who they were but were big fans of the band, despite it being 35 years since they'd last been over.

Mark explained that on the first album Dave Hassinger and the record company forced them into recording a lot of songs that they really hated, but Hassinger was a big shot at the time having worked with some big names like the Stones, and they were pretty green so they had to go along with it. When it came to recording Underground they put their collective foot down and insisted on having more say in the choice of material but sadly the album flopped and they were again back to having Hassinger in charge. Reluctantly they went along with the Mass In F Minor project but they weren't really behind it and it was ceasing to be enjoyable, so one by one they all quit. Mark's feeling was that being in the band wasn't life or death for them - he contrasted it with a few of their UK contemporaries who used music as an escape route from fairly impoverished backgrounds - and when it stopped being fun then they stopped doing it, it wasn't that big a deal for them. But of course Hassinger owned the name and brought in other musicians to finish the album - only Mark, James Lowe and Quint are on all the tracks - and then put together a new Electric Prunes with no original members. That was that until 2001 when they got back together again, I was way too young to have seen them first time around but managed to catch them three times over the next couple of years. Mark died following a heart attack in February 2011, and that was it, more or less, although they did make an attempt to carry on without him for while. They haven't been active for a few years so I guess that might be the end of the road for them.
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Concentration Moon · Dec 25, 2020

Godbluff said: ↑

Back in 2002 the family and me were down in Kent for the Canterbury Fayre festival, there was a great line-up that year, including the Electric Prunes playing their first UK date since 1967. When we checked into the Holiday Inn, just down the road from the festival site, we discovered that many of the bands were also staying there including the Prunes, who were staying the full weekend in order to catch their old mate Arthur Lee on the last day of the festival. I'd first heard I Had Too Much To Dream on Lenny Kaye's Nuggets compilation, which led me to tracking down everything I could find by them, but in a way the albums asked more questions than they answered. Why did they totally change direction after the second album and why did the line-up change completely after the third? Seeing Mark Tulin hanging around in reception I thought it was too good an opportunity to miss, so I introduced myself and over the next half hour he took me through a detailed history of the band and filled in all the blanks. Slowly all the rest of the band arrived and we got to know them really well, meeting each morning at breakfast and numerous time through the day at the festival. They were genuinely knocked out that people in the UK not only knew who they were but were big fans of the band, despite it being 35 years since they'd last been over.

Mark explained that on the first album Dave Hassinger and the record company forced them into recording a lot of songs that they really hated, but Hassinger was a big shot at the time having worked with some big names like the Stones, and they were pretty green so they had to go along with it. When it came to recording Underground they put their collective foot down and insisted on having more say in the choice of material but sadly the album flopped and they were again back to having Hassinger in charge. Reluctantly they went along with the Mass In F Minor project but they weren't really behind it and it was ceasing to be enjoyable, so one by one they all quit. Mark's feeling was that being in the band wasn't life or death for them - he contrasted it with a few of their UK contemporaries who used music as an escape route from fairly impoverished backgrounds - and when it stopped being fun then they stopped doing it, it wasn't that big a deal for them. But of course Hassinger owned the name and brought in other musicians to finish the album - only Mark, James Lowe and Quint are on all the tracks - and then put together a new Electric Prunes with no original members. That was that until 2001 when they got back together again, I was way too young to have seen them first time around but managed to catch them three times over the next couple of years. Mark died following a heart attack in February 2011, and that was it, more or less, although they did make an attempt to carry on without him for while. They haven't been active for a few years so I guess that might be the end of the road for them.
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Excellent info there, mate! I only have their first four singles- bought at the time that they first came out. Yes, I´m that old ! And the "Underground" L.p which I got as a cheap American import "cutout" in Virgin records in Oxford Street a few years later. My nephew got me the "Wired" dvd when they appeared live in Brighton in the early "noughties". All great stuff from an excellent band!

pierogy · Jan 13, 2021

I recently tuned in to Turner Classic Movies to watch 'Crime Thief' (1969), directed by Nadine Trintignant. I was mighty surprised to find that most of the soundtrack was the Mass in F minor. Quite effectively used (in my opinion). Really cool movie as well.

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