There may have been a Magic Potion in the 1960s because there was something the artists had then that has never been recaptured. Quite simply it still holds up as the greatest decade for music, and probably always will.
By 1962 music had long since left behind the dangerous new rock stars of the mid fifties and become stagnant in a sea of light pop, with few commercial exceptions. Fortunately salvation was at hand with bands like The Beatles honing their skills in Hamburg and American blues albums being heard in Britain for the first time and having a lasting impact on the restless youth who were ready for the next 'new wave'.
In 1962 The Beatles released 'Love Me Do' and a new age had dawned. It is this era, from 'Love Me Do'
until the end of the 1960s that this website is concerned with, the records and musicians that changed the world and still influence so much today.
If you are a vinyl junkie then I hope this website will be of some use to you, even if it's to just look at the
pictures of records you've never seen before, or used to own and wish you'd hung on to now it's worth big money! If you aren't a vinyl junkie ... get a life and become one, it's never too late!
Welcome to Magic Potion, the track listing guide for 45s, EPs and LPs released in the UK from 1962 - 1969 which created the sound of the 'Swinging 60s'.
The following categories are covered:
The Beat boom - The Beatles are basically the starting point for this project as 'Love Me Do' ushered in
a new sound to irrevocably change the music, fashion and lifestyles over the remaining years of the 1960s. Hundreds of lesser bands were snapped up by desperate record companies hoping for the next Beatles and these are represented alongside the major stars.
The Blues and R&B scene - encompassing the rest of Britains answer to the Mersey tidal wave of 1963. The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, The Animals and hundreds of unknown bands alongside the more purist Blues of John Mayall and Alexis Korner.
The Mod scene - Dominated by The Who and The Small Faces this super-cool movement also included such legends as The Creation, The Muleskinners, The Action and The Soul Agents.
Psychedelia - Drug induced mayhem from the land of acid. Pink Floyd, Tomorrow, The Electric Prunes and Kaleidoscope just scratch the surface of the new music which began to concentrate more on the recording of albums rather than the three minute 45s.
Folk and Country Rock - From the mighty Dylan to Donovan, from The Byrds to the Flying Burrito Brothers, the age old folk and country scenes were a huge influence on the hip new stars. There was a 'new wave' of folkies, galvanised by the protest movements of the time. Even the more traditional folk had moved on to encompass a rapidly changing world.
Progressive Rock - The monster was born in the 1960s, from Arcadium to Edgar Broughton to Yes, the 70s Supergroups were just awakening.
Avant Garde - Boundary pushers like Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and The Velvet Underground and the beginnings of Krautrock with Amon Duul and Can provided a decidedly new direction for music to follow. It had been a long journey from 'Love Me Do'.
U.S. Garage/Punk scene - From the Godfathers of Punk including The Stooges, The Seeds, The
Standells and The Shadows Of Knight to the lesser known but massively important Count Five and We The People, The USA provided us with the snotty prototype for the 70s Punk/New Wave explosion. Awesome three chord 2-3 minute long killers made it seem possible for anyone to make music, but maybe it wasn't quite that easy to sound this good!
Also included is Blue-Eyed Soul, the Beat Girls and the coolest Pop music, from The Association to Sandie Shaw, from Amen Corner to The Herd. Also let's not forget the Surf scene, led by the mighty Beach Boys.
Jazz has not generally been included as this takes us off on another tangent altogether, but a few artists have been included where they utilise important members of the Rock scene, or can be seen to show or use rock influences, i.e. The beginnings of 'jazz rock'.
Soundtracks had crossed over into the Rock and Pop genre, so the hippest films are also included.
Occasionally an artist from outside the guidelines of this publication has been included, if they recorded on a particularly collectable label which is generally represented in the theme of this publication.
The artists included come from all over the world. Obviously Britain and the USA are the backbone of our 60s musical culture but Australia, Greece, Spain, Holland and many other countries gave an important contribution and are represented on this site if they managed a UK release.
The whole project started with just wanting to know if every 'A' and 'B' side were on albums by my fave bands. If not I needed to obtain them to get everything they had done. (To be honest most of the time I'd pick up the 45s even if they were on the albums, that's what being a vinyl junkie is all about!). I also wanted to know who played on these tracks but this information was not always readily available.
Also I became aware that too many other publications perpetuated the same errors rather than properly research the details. Eventually I decided to start putting some data together myself and many years later after well over 20 years of trainspotter level research here is the end result (so far). Researching the line-ups turned out to be an enormous separate project in itself but luckily most original albums tend to have the relevant personnel noted. Aside from that it was down to serious research. It was fascinating to see how the incestuous 60s music scene had musicians frequently changing bands, and watching future superstars blossoming. Line-ups turned up in an array of sources, from the internet to old publications such as Oz, Zigzag and I.T., to moderner underground fanzine style publications such as 117 and Bam Balam. Some were also sourced from original band members, so a hearty thanks to them for their help.
Obviously a project of this magnitude has required help from some learned friends...
My special thanks go to Bob Cowell (R.I.P.) who was very patient and gracious in lending me many thousands of pounds worth of his valuable records for information and to photograph or scan over the years.
I must also thank the following for their invaluable assistance (in alphabetical order):
Mark Ashton (Rare Bird/Turnstyle), Denis Beach (Orbit Five), Clem Cattini, Roy Clover (Nix-Nomads), Pete Cottrell, Keith Degroot (Laurie Jay Combo), Emperor Rosko, Keith Evans, John '117' Faulkner, Steve Fearn (Fearns Brass Foundry), Eric Fleetwood, Len Ford (Hi-Fi's www.thehi-fis.co.uk ), Tania Green (Re: Dead Sea Fruit), Andy Hanger, Andrew Kay, Rob Mayhew/Pat Lavelle (Presidents),
Art Marsh (Dead Sea Fruit), Stephen Megitt (The Score), Brian Mills, Ross Mitchell (Creme Caramel, Nocturnes, Track), David Pain (Davey Payne and The Medium Wave), Keith Pearce (Tony & Howard with The Dictators), S. Pinch (The Nothings), Ken Pustelnik (Groundhogs), Neil Roddis of 'Fine Ol' Vinyl', Mike Silver, Tony Sketchley, Neil Smith, Jeff Sturgeon (Jean & The Statesides), Phil Walker, John Warburg, Chad Wiffen, Trevor Williams/Billy Cox (Lloyd Alexander Real Estate), Joe Woolley, Wurzelsepp and anybody else who has helped me with details over the last 20+ years.
Also thanks for technical help to Steve (H.T.B.) Harrison (who saved my informational bacon more than once!) and my reluctant son Tom.
To be continuously updated...
By 1962 music had long since left behind the dangerous new rock stars of the mid fifties and become stagnant in a sea of light pop, with few commercial exceptions. Fortunately salvation was at hand with bands like The Beatles honing their skills in Hamburg and American blues albums being heard in Britain for the first time and having a lasting impact on the restless youth who were ready for the next 'new wave'.
In 1962 The Beatles released 'Love Me Do' and a new age had dawned. It is this era, from 'Love Me Do'
until the end of the 1960s that this website is concerned with, the records and musicians that changed the world and still influence so much today.
If you are a vinyl junkie then I hope this website will be of some use to you, even if it's to just look at the
pictures of records you've never seen before, or used to own and wish you'd hung on to now it's worth big money! If you aren't a vinyl junkie ... get a life and become one, it's never too late!
Welcome to Magic Potion, the track listing guide for 45s, EPs and LPs released in the UK from 1962 - 1969 which created the sound of the 'Swinging 60s'.
The following categories are covered:
The Beat boom - The Beatles are basically the starting point for this project as 'Love Me Do' ushered in
a new sound to irrevocably change the music, fashion and lifestyles over the remaining years of the 1960s. Hundreds of lesser bands were snapped up by desperate record companies hoping for the next Beatles and these are represented alongside the major stars.
The Blues and R&B scene - encompassing the rest of Britains answer to the Mersey tidal wave of 1963. The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, The Animals and hundreds of unknown bands alongside the more purist Blues of John Mayall and Alexis Korner.
The Mod scene - Dominated by The Who and The Small Faces this super-cool movement also included such legends as The Creation, The Muleskinners, The Action and The Soul Agents.
Psychedelia - Drug induced mayhem from the land of acid. Pink Floyd, Tomorrow, The Electric Prunes and Kaleidoscope just scratch the surface of the new music which began to concentrate more on the recording of albums rather than the three minute 45s.
Folk and Country Rock - From the mighty Dylan to Donovan, from The Byrds to the Flying Burrito Brothers, the age old folk and country scenes were a huge influence on the hip new stars. There was a 'new wave' of folkies, galvanised by the protest movements of the time. Even the more traditional folk had moved on to encompass a rapidly changing world.
Progressive Rock - The monster was born in the 1960s, from Arcadium to Edgar Broughton to Yes, the 70s Supergroups were just awakening.
Avant Garde - Boundary pushers like Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and The Velvet Underground and the beginnings of Krautrock with Amon Duul and Can provided a decidedly new direction for music to follow. It had been a long journey from 'Love Me Do'.
U.S. Garage/Punk scene - From the Godfathers of Punk including The Stooges, The Seeds, The
Standells and The Shadows Of Knight to the lesser known but massively important Count Five and We The People, The USA provided us with the snotty prototype for the 70s Punk/New Wave explosion. Awesome three chord 2-3 minute long killers made it seem possible for anyone to make music, but maybe it wasn't quite that easy to sound this good!
Also included is Blue-Eyed Soul, the Beat Girls and the coolest Pop music, from The Association to Sandie Shaw, from Amen Corner to The Herd. Also let's not forget the Surf scene, led by the mighty Beach Boys.
Jazz has not generally been included as this takes us off on another tangent altogether, but a few artists have been included where they utilise important members of the Rock scene, or can be seen to show or use rock influences, i.e. The beginnings of 'jazz rock'.
Soundtracks had crossed over into the Rock and Pop genre, so the hippest films are also included.
Occasionally an artist from outside the guidelines of this publication has been included, if they recorded on a particularly collectable label which is generally represented in the theme of this publication.
The artists included come from all over the world. Obviously Britain and the USA are the backbone of our 60s musical culture but Australia, Greece, Spain, Holland and many other countries gave an important contribution and are represented on this site if they managed a UK release.
The whole project started with just wanting to know if every 'A' and 'B' side were on albums by my fave bands. If not I needed to obtain them to get everything they had done. (To be honest most of the time I'd pick up the 45s even if they were on the albums, that's what being a vinyl junkie is all about!). I also wanted to know who played on these tracks but this information was not always readily available.
Also I became aware that too many other publications perpetuated the same errors rather than properly research the details. Eventually I decided to start putting some data together myself and many years later after well over 20 years of trainspotter level research here is the end result (so far). Researching the line-ups turned out to be an enormous separate project in itself but luckily most original albums tend to have the relevant personnel noted. Aside from that it was down to serious research. It was fascinating to see how the incestuous 60s music scene had musicians frequently changing bands, and watching future superstars blossoming. Line-ups turned up in an array of sources, from the internet to old publications such as Oz, Zigzag and I.T., to moderner underground fanzine style publications such as 117 and Bam Balam. Some were also sourced from original band members, so a hearty thanks to them for their help.
Obviously a project of this magnitude has required help from some learned friends...
My special thanks go to Bob Cowell (R.I.P.) who was very patient and gracious in lending me many thousands of pounds worth of his valuable records for information and to photograph or scan over the years.
I must also thank the following for their invaluable assistance (in alphabetical order):
Mark Ashton (Rare Bird/Turnstyle), Denis Beach (Orbit Five), Clem Cattini, Roy Clover (Nix-Nomads), Pete Cottrell, Keith Degroot (Laurie Jay Combo), Emperor Rosko, Keith Evans, John '117' Faulkner, Steve Fearn (Fearns Brass Foundry), Eric Fleetwood, Len Ford (Hi-Fi's www.thehi-fis.co.uk ), Tania Green (Re: Dead Sea Fruit), Andy Hanger, Andrew Kay, Rob Mayhew/Pat Lavelle (Presidents),
Art Marsh (Dead Sea Fruit), Stephen Megitt (The Score), Brian Mills, Ross Mitchell (Creme Caramel, Nocturnes, Track), David Pain (Davey Payne and The Medium Wave), Keith Pearce (Tony & Howard with The Dictators), S. Pinch (The Nothings), Ken Pustelnik (Groundhogs), Neil Roddis of 'Fine Ol' Vinyl', Mike Silver, Tony Sketchley, Neil Smith, Jeff Sturgeon (Jean & The Statesides), Phil Walker, John Warburg, Chad Wiffen, Trevor Williams/Billy Cox (Lloyd Alexander Real Estate), Joe Woolley, Wurzelsepp and anybody else who has helped me with details over the last 20+ years.
Also thanks for technical help to Steve (H.T.B.) Harrison (who saved my informational bacon more than once!) and my reluctant son Tom.
To be continuously updated...