Question:

What's Purple and goes...Buzz, Buzz, Buzz?

Answer:

The Electric Prunes

the holy trinity

The Electric Prunes released only three LP’s and a handful of singles during their earthly visitation from 1966 to 1968. After a European tour and half way through recording and touring in mid 1968 the original band disolved, the name carried on but with new members bearing no resemblance to the earlier magical incarnation.
1997 saw the official release of a 1967 Stockholm concert on CD and vinyl and in 2001 we have the new anthology CD 'Lost Dreams'
For a detailed biography and discography (including the new February 2001 release) visit the Haydn Jones The Electric Prunes WebSite

I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)

Last night your shadow fell upon my humble room
I touched your golden hair and tasted your perfume
Your eyes were filled with love the way they used to be
Your gentle hand reached out to comfort me
Peeped in the dark, Then you were gone
You were gone, gone, gone
I had too much to dream last night
Too much to dream
I'm not ready to face the life
I had too much to dream
Last night, last night
The room was empty, as I staggered from my bed
I could not bear the image tracing through my head
You were so real that I could feel your eagerness
And then you raised your lips for me to kiss

"Peeped In the Dark!?" The Annette Tucker and Nancy Mantz lyrics as printed on the back of an Japanese 1966 45" single. For the correct words click HERE!

1966 Japanese 7" Single

TURN ON THE PRUNES - IT'S ALL ELECTRIC
When the Electric Prunes hit our area, I had this brilliant idea. I knew that the contact man had once lived in our town and if his memory was any good at all, he'd arrange for them to stay at Hall's Court, not only the one place good enough for them, but the only place for decent food. So I staked myself out in the restaurant at Hall's, thanks to a waitress I knew there, and sweated out my theory.
I wouldn't recommend it. The long wait was a drag. But this time it worked. About two hours before the time for their show , they came into the restaurant. It was like the place had suddenly been shot full of of rockets. Everything came alive. All five live up to the name Electric.
I'm just a fan and tend to get dumbstruck with such as the Prunes, so I won't horrify you with my dooky attempts at interviewing, but here are some of the things I learned when I got the nerve to go talk to them: Jim is a Californian who thinks the yelling girls at appearances turn things on for performers and fans alike. He misses home cooking. Ken is 18, admires the Lovin' Spoonful and the color blue. Mark is from Pennsylvania and also likes having girls scream at concerts. preston is 17, also from California, likes all kinds of music and thinks James Brown is today's greatest performer. Weasel is from Ohio and is a bug on racing cars and nature.
All I can say is that the wait was worthwhile, but after those fab guys got there, time just melted away....
By Clara Parkington, age 16 (SIXTEEN magazine 1966).

Would you believe The Electric Prunes?
Most people didn’t. The way-out name turned most people off until The Prunes’ way-out sound turned them on! With all sorts of custom-built gadgets, the five guys with the weird name have come up with grooviest vibrato sound this side of Sunsweet!
Jim Lowe - who sings lead, plays autoharp and doodles on the harmonica - lived in Los Angeles until he was 17. Then he took off for Hawaii and later, Japan. He doubled back to Hawaii, where he played in a blue-grass group before leaving the islands after a year and getting back to Hollywood, where he decided to form The Electric Prunes. (Jim, by the way, flips over blues records, loves to paint flowers and to write songs.)
Weasel, the rhythm guitarist, started playing guitar five years ago. He fooled around with a couple of bands, but didn’t become serious until he met Jim in Hawaii. Weasel digs sports, recording sessions (particularly his own) and go-go jazz.
"Nothing very exiting happens to me," says Quent of the Prunes, "unless it’s when I’m playing drums." Quent is a wanderer - the Prunes had to search all over Mexico to get him to join the group as drummer. His faves are way-out clothes and Indian Lore.
Lead guitarist Ken Williams is a native Californian, whose father gave him a guitar on his twelfth birthday. By the time he was 16, his musical services were in great demand. He was looking for a blues band when he found the Prunes. He likes motorcycles, unusual instruments and electronics.
Mark Tulin was happy to switch from guitar and organ to bass for the Prunes. His interest and knowledge of music lends itself to almost every instrument the Prunes could come up with. He learned to love blues while living in Virginia for ten years. Mark digs hats, Shakespeare and music.
(1968 ‘Flip’s Groovy Guide to the Groops!’)

THINGS YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW ABOUT
AND THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE ELECTRIC PRUNES……
Q. Weren't they originally from Seattle?
A. No, their first hit single 'I Had Too Much To Dream' charted there first, the band were actually from California.
Q. Didn't they appear in a episode of some old comedy TV series?
A. No! You must be thinking of the Sacred Cows who sang 'Kill Kill Kill' from the 1967 Get Smart episode 'The Groovy Guru' (Although Admiral Hargrade's secret to long life is 'Prunes' and Max loves the psychedelic band the Electric Hair), or the Mosquitos (the Wellingtons) on Gilligans Island, the Standalls on the Munsters, the Seeds on Mothers In Law, or Phil Spector and the Lewis & Clark Expedition on I Dream of Jeannie!
Q. Didn't Mick Jagger give them their name?
A. No but he said it was a good name for a band so they thought they'd use it.
Q. Yeah they did the soundtrack to the trip scene in the New Orleans cemetery from the 1969 film 'Easy Rider'
A. No, their song is played in the New Orleans brothel scene
Q. They were just a bubblegum band with a silly name, weren't they, like Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Vinalla Fudge?
A. No they were an unique r&b band that layed down some heavy tunes!!!?! Man!
Q. Kenny (Footloose) Loggins was once a member!!!!!!???????
A. Yeah just like Peter Best or Jimmy Nicole (1964 Australian tour) used to be a Beatle and George Martin was the fifth Beatle.., yes but at that point they had few original members and weren't playing any songs from any of the first three LP's.
Q. Kevin from the TV show the WonderYears, named his band the Electric Prunes.
A. False he called his garage band the Electric Shoes (not even close…..!) in episode 33 "Rock n Roll" where Kevin meets Larry Beeman who convinces him to join his (non-existent) band. They practice and practice, but still sound bad. Just as they are about to play their first gig at Amy Ermin's party, the band is shut down. "what would you do if I sang out of tune"?
Q. Aren't they infamous for throwing TV's out of hotel windows while on tour?
A. Incorrect, they once threw Lawn chairs and furniture from a hotel roof in the pool below.

UNRELEASED RECORDINGS ……………………………………
I Had Too Much To Dream (ballad version with orchestra demo)
Talking About You (Chuck Berry)
All Over Now (Rolling Stones)
Pushin Too Hard (rumoured Seeds cover)
Their legendary & mysterious live shows!!!
Woman, Ladies, Girls, Chicks (performed on tv with Cyd Charisse in 1966)

NEW!!! FEB 2001 Release "Lost Dreams" CD & VINYL

Hit the links below for more info...
A ELECTRIC PRUNES WEBSITE

The Electric Prunes official website

Garage, Psych, Beat, Pop Links - LINKS A GO GO

back to my HomePage

Editor PJB

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page