Electric Prunes

I give up on trying to speak English, here's a graph instead   /\ enjoyment                                                    5 |                                                                       4 |                                                                       3 |  __                       ___                                      2 |      \              ___/      \                                    1 |        \__/\__/                \__/\__/\/\____             0  --------------------|--------------------> time                          ~7th song                                 

Some songs were good, some were just completely out of pocket. Felt very dated in sound. I will use Toonerville Trolley as punishment for people who have wronged me in the future.

This would considered a Psychedelic classic were it not for the significant drop in quality on the B side. I still enjoyed it a lot, and it deserves more credit than it gets, but it's clear the longer the album goes on the less ideas the band has. I have no idea what they were thinking with that last song

WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THE TOONERVILLE TROLLEY I HATE IT SO MUCH. There are some really sorta... creepy at times psychedelia goodness in here, mixed with filler songs. I really enjoyed stuff like "I had Too Much to Dream", and "Get me to the World on Time", "The Highest Bidder" a solid 3/5!

People seem to think irony as a pop-culture phenomena was a 90s thing, but I’m realizing that there was a whole wave of it in the late 60s as psychedelic bands inexplicably made entire albums of joke songs with ragtime piano. I’m guessing everyone was burnt out by the end of the 60s. I feel like I should like this but it’s just lame, the whole side B is especially kind of unbearable. Favourite track: “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)”

Never heard of them before, but really dug the first tune “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).” Great song and great lyrics. How have I never heard this before? The second track “Bangles” again drew me in right away. I want to see this lady’s dressing room and vanity. Fantastic fun lyrics. “Onie” took it down a notch into a pleasant, dreamy tune that I liked a lot. Made me wish I was wandering through the streets of a new town gazing into shop windows wearing boots and a mini skirt. After changing my name to ‘Onie’ of course. Clever lyrics abound. “Are You Lovin’ Me More (But Enjoying it Less)”. Great sixties sentiments like “Sold to the Highest Bidder” and “The King Is In His Counting House”. A delightful cover of “About A Quarter to Nine”. Some quality sexy time with “Luvin’” and “Try Me On For Size”. And a couple of transportation songs, “Train for Tomorrow” and “The Toonerville Trolly”. Speaking of… “The Toonerville Trolly” is a generous helping of Cool Whip on this fabulous album! I started literally laughing out loud on a public bus - so much fun! But I found myself wondering if ‘ridin’ the Toonerville Trolly’ might be a euphemism for something else… and imagining all the possibilities. Throw in the artsy album cover featuring the band in the same pose as a modern art rendition of them and it’s pretty much everything I could ask for in a 60s album. So glad to have been introduced to The Electric Prunes!

Starts as a psychedelic fever dream but then kinda goes all over the place, ending on a bizarre sarcastic joke. If the material were more consistently psychedelic like the opening track or "Get Me to the World on Time" it'd be 4 stars but I have to round down to 3 for the jarring tone shifts.

i’d never heard of electric prunes but i was pleasantly surprised! love it!

Tired of 1960s Kinks sounding bands right now.

Strong psychedelic pop. The opening track brings this album to 5 stars on its own. Of course it sounds dated, but there wasn't any auto tune or endless overdubbing back then. This was probably laid down on 8 track tape by people who could actually sing and play their instruments. One of the groovier albums from the generator. Dig it.

At its best, the trippy use of sound effects, reverb and awesome guitar sounds, urgent propulsive rhythms and snotty vocals combine to make this a groovy, highly listenable album. Individually, this is more interesting than a lot of the mid sixties albums by more well known American psychedelic groups like The Grateful Dead, The Byrds etc. Although they've got a signature "raw" sound, they're not afraid to mix it up with some mellow jazzy ballads ('Onie', 'About a Quarter to Nine') or even a Greek/Cossack/middle eastern flavour ('Sold to the Highest Bidder'). The singles 'I Had to Much to Dream Last Night', 'Get Me to the World On Time' are both awesome highlights, with a powerful urgency that hook the listener. They would be floor fillers at any respectable retro themed rave-up. Nothing outstays it welcome and even the novelty 'Tunerville Trolley' and baroque/tudor flavoured period piece 'The King is in the Counting House' exude a certain period charm (a bit like the Rolling Stones 'Lady Jane' and 'Something Happened to me Yesterday'). In fact, it comes as no surprise that the Stones Aftermath/Between the Buttons era recordings sound similar; both groups were produced/engineered by Dave Hassinger and recorded in Los Angeles. For my money, this is one of the finest albums from 1967 and the dark LP cover portrays a cool moodiness. Fabulous stuff, love it 😎

A true cornerstone of psychedelic rock, the self-titled Electric Prunes album delivers haunting, dreamy vocals intertwined with swirling guitars and ethereal production. Amidst this sonic landscape, one also discovers heartfelt, tender tracks that add depth to the album's aura. Seamlessly blending psychedelia, garage rock, and avant-garde experimentation emblematic of its time, this record conjures an entrancing and otherworldly atmosphere. 10/10!

Fun and standout psych garage, this honestly surprised me. There was more chaff here than I'd normally allow for a four star album, but the kernels of wheat that came out really were golden.

My left ear enjoyed this one. Cool sound.

Another that had a few good tunes, interspersed by Nursery rhymes and rubbish

I liked the short songs. not enough people writing 2 minute songs these days

The Electric Prunes I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) is a garage-psychedelic staple, a Nuggets classic, all ominous bass, fuzzed out guitar and ‘mind-expanding’ lyrics. There’s nothing else quite as good as that, the rest of the songs being either more bluesy-garage-psych in the vein of I Had Too Much to Dream or semi-baroque whimsical hippie psychedelia. The former camp is far better; Bangles, Are You Lovin’ Me More, Train for Tomorrow, Get Me To the World on Time and Try Me for Size are all decent enough, but the latter camp is mostly not very good, About a Quarter to Nine and The King is in the Counting House in particular, and The Toonerville Trolley is absolutely awful. It follows the pattern of a lot of those late 60s psychedelic-garage-acid-blues-hippie rock albums, in that they aren’t that great overall but they have one or two little gems that are worthwhile, backing up the idea that it’s best served as a compilation/playlist genre. It’s on the cusp of 2 and 3, I Had Too Much to Dream is definitely in the plus column, but the sub (Listen to) The Flower People whimsy and the awful Toonerville Trolley mean that I’m unlikely to want to listen again. 🍇 🍇 Playlist submission: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)

i don't understand why this is on the list. "i had too much to dream (last night)" is decent but then the band apparently hit the beatles pack too hard for the rest of the front half, only sobering up for "sold to the highest bidder", which i guess i'd call my favourite track even if the dogshit stereo mix puts the lead guitar entirely in my left ear and makes it physically uncomfortable to listen to. "get me to the world on time" gets the back half off to a start that at best i would describe as "just barely enjoyable", although i'm probably going too easy on it out of respect for the unhinged levels of delay and reverb they put on it, then to round out the experience we get 4 tracks of absolutely nothing followed by the worst song i've heard in any album on this list so far. "the toonerville trolley" just absolutely fucking sucks. i'm not even sure what the songwriters were intending here. it seems like a half-assed attempt at some kind of ragtime musical number, which they then gave to a psych/garage rock band for some reason? and the band clearly did not want to play it, for reasons that feel like they should be obvious but apparently weren't to the folks responsible. the result is what i imagine it'd sound like if rogers and hammerstein had just absolutely stopped giving a fuck. a truly miserable listening experience. just absolute shite. honestly i feel bad for the electric prunes. it sounds like the label picked them up more or less on a whim and then took away their creative control for almost the entire album, so it's hard to blame the band for how much it sucks. you can even hear it in their performances, the vocals on the last track in particular are absolutely (and justifiably) brimming with malice. i'm hoping that's why it's on the list in the first place cos the alternative is that the critic responsible genuinely thought this was a good album, and if that's the case idk what to say other than like, i hope they got better. fucking hell. even if this album is bad for an amazing reason, it's still bad. you really don't gotta listen to this one before you die. no one who's heard it will judge you for giving it a miss.

Proof, if proof was needed, that not everything recorded in 1967 is a classic worth remembering. Here we have an album that even the band thought was disappointing. Rushed into the studio to cash in on the moderate success of their two singles, they had their own songs sidelined and were given a set of songs by commercial songwriters and, inexplicably, a cover of a 1932 show tune. It seems to be a story of a band thinking they were important artists and the label seeing them as the songwriters vehicle. The album is all over the shop. There's some Psychedelia, a protest song, some soft, chart friendly love songs, a couple of novelty hits and the one song the band did write pretty much convinces you that they were better off with the label's writers. Probably the best things on the record are the two singles and Try Me On For Size, which is musically fine, although, to be honest, the lyrics are of the 60s, creepy, just-a-bit-rapey variety that passed for manly, tough guy that the girls can't pass up in 67. So its a bit of a label cash on a sort of successful band, with the singles, some future singles and a bit of filler. To be clear, for every Revolver, or Blonde on Blonde, there were probably 50 albums made like this. The question remains, of course, why is it on this list? I pause for a reply.

what the hell man

How have I never heard of this band? That’s because they suck.

Probably the most uneven album yet. Some good cuts and some abominations. 2/5

Gets one star for the effort of actually going to the studio and recording this pish

Super fun album that almost sounds like a Beatles greatest hits album. No skip, 5 stars

Would’ve been a 5 if not for the very last song. What the hell was that?

I really enjoy this band's name

I love a good 60s garage rock.

I really enjoyed this one. It was like... a darker version of the Beatles and the Beach Boys, kinda the way the Wiki page described.

Weird that the same songwriting team wrote the majestic "i had too much to dream last night" and the toonerville trolley, which is so corny the Osmonds would have balked at recording it. Even weirder that this is a group that didnt write their own material.

Why were all of these British psych bands in the 60s so into Renaissance influences?

Never heard of this before. It was alright I guess, but nothing really jumped out at me.

At its best it’s pretty good, there are some really bad tracks on here though, especially in the second half. 5/10

Did these guys influence the whole? Classic 60’s rock and roll. Terrible name.

There's a lot to like about this album, but there's also a lot to feel absolutely nothing about. It's an album for sure. It's not bad. Nothing about this album is great or necessary by any means, but nothing is offensive to my ears. This is the definition of "...yeah."

A mix of excellent tracks and the absolute nightmare of The Toonerville Trolley. Jesus.

What an odd little album. I rather liked some of the tracks and others seemed silly, like songs for children.

The biggest crime that 60’s psych bands perpetrated was convincing people that cabaret songs and show tunes could somehow be considered “psychedelic”.

This album feels quite manic, some cool songs and some others I really don't care for at all. First track might be my fav, the rest are sorta meh. Like Toonerville Trolley is sort of horrible. An interesting debut for sure.

Interesting contrast to the Animals.. they focused on politics, prunes focused on girls with more than a touch of misogyny...

Good album which has a lot of missed potential unfortunately, would have wished that the more exotic and medieval sounding songs were more plentyful

Especially liked 'Sold to the Highest Bidder'. Some really fun fast moving tracks on this one. At points it felt like it was straddling the edge of being endearingly goofy and annoyingly so

We overrate the 60s so much.

Another useless 40 minutes spent on rubbish that by no mean has a place on this list. May have heard of them... even if not,I am no better off for listening to them now. Move on

its the toonerville trolley

I'm confident this record is here on this list for the single, and for that reason I'd say.. the self imposed rule against compilations is to the list/book's detriment. The Nuggets comp should have been present instead of this album. It's a much better representation of the garage/psych scene of the late 60s.

Pas terrible

It's the now sound, it's what's happening! I first came across the Electric Prunes via a compilation cassette from my mate Peter. He used to often include on his mixtapes a commercial for the Vox wah wah pedal featuring the Electric Prunes. It was made in 1967 and tacked on to the end of Glen A. Baker's excellent 2LP compilation 'Songs of a Psychedelic Age'. Check the commercial out here: https://youtu.be/17h773ldGds?si=SDtPFwACcyQwmceI My next exposure was the track 'I had too much to dream last night', which was a highlight of the famous and influential Nuggets compilation. It is a great piece of 60s garage rock and a longtime favourite track of mine. It's weird and rough and catchy. But the rest of this album is just another mediocre example of the 1960s cult psychedelia that Dimery is obsessed with. I found the rest of this record pretty forgettable. I swear I own at least one Prunes album (possibly even this one) but I can't find it anywhere, and I can't remember the last time I might have played it; probably about 30 years ago. Maybe I sold it and can't remember. "I had too much to dream last night" is a moment of accidental genius that the Electric Prunes never came close to matching. They deserve to be remembered for that (and possibly the wah wah commercial), but on compilations, comfortably nestled between tracks from other similar one song wonders. It's ok if a band only ever produced one song of real lasting value. That's one more than most of us ever manage. And those songs should be remembered and celebrated in a suitable manner; compilations, playlists, mixtapes, radio, DJ sets, placement in tv or movies or videogames or whatever. There are lots of places where a single dong can be heard and enjoyed. But please, Dimery, don't make us sit through whole mediocre albums on the basis of one great track.

Yet another entry in the "too many '60s psych rock albums" category. I definitely don't hate this one, and wouldn't say it's bad, but good lord I never thought I would be this OVER IT. We get it, LSD right? Hippies? Okay, cool, whatever. You'll never be the Doors, or Jimi Hendrix, or any of the other 15-20 more impressive psych rock acts that we've certainly had on here. We do not need to be this far in the weeds, especially when there are way better albums out there. Favorite tracks: Train for Tomorrow, Luvin. Album art: Band photo, looks cool, they look pretty cool but also kind of square. I dig it. I like the inset, art within the art, kind of thing going on. Wish I wasn't so fatigued about '60s rock to enjoy this more, then again, there's better stuff out there. Cover's cool though. 2.5/5

Na ja, die Zeit ist rum.

I could see putting Nuggets on this list (maybe compilations aren't included in the list?) or Too Much To Dream if you were doing a similar list of songs but a whole album by The Electric Prunes? C'mon. This is just cookie cutter generic late 60s psychedlia. It's not even as if I'm not a fan of this genre, Piper at The Gates of Dawn absolutely belongs so does Forever Changes. I won't even argue with the 13th Floor Elevators album but to me this is like putting a Strawberry Alarm Clock or Chocolate Watchband album on here.

I mean its rubbish, but it has redeeming features. Mostly humorous sadly

That was the most half-hearted 60s psych-rock I've ever heard in my life. Even funnier with the context of a third party songwriting team brought in and the band ending up pissed of with the final result. "I Had Too Much to Dream" *is* a good song, and while it does not prop the rest of the album up enough into something great, the experience *is* something to behold. There's no denying the fact that most of the tracks are inferior mimics of other bands that were hot in the era, and the poor production doesn't help either. In spite of that, "Sold to the Highest Bidder" is kind of catchy and different, and I think and what this album offers in place of quality is a variety sampler. Having this to play at home on record as a teen in the 60s would maybe seem like a value. Especially in light of the knowledge that this album got so many vinyl presses that it flooded the market and ended up in every secondhand record store. Or maybe that just made it uncool. And OK had to listen to The Toonerville Trolley 3 times before the bafflement wore off. I'm no stranger to goofy 60s ditties, but there's this insane manic quality to it where it's lacking an element of irony to feel truly tongue-in-cheek, & the malice in the singer's voice becomes completely detectable halfway through the song. You got me... this album might truly be an experience worth listening to before you die. It earns my milestone first 1/5 in a so-bad-it's-good honor.

Boooooooring

Who the hell chose this? This album blows.

I am struggling to find anything to say about this album. Its just such a blatant doors ripoff. I got through the album no problem but cant say that I would want to go back to it. The Toonerville Trolley is a real piece of shit and is a star demerit.

Actually thought it started ok but quickly descended into some truly awful noise. Some music is timeless. This mess is not.

Super fun!!

Prune Fun and good

Приколдесно!

Класс

awesome! just too short - wanted more!

Other people might say this is shitty soft rock akin to The Beach Boys, but they're wrong; this album isn't soft or hard, and it's pretty good.

Pretty fun. Kinda feels like acid rock n roll

Will repeat soon

why is this so good and why have I never heard of this?!

The album flows really nicely as a collection, really good band

This is definitely one of my favorite ’60s psychedelic albums. The vocals are echoed, reverbed, and hazy, while the guitars are fuzz heavy and distorted, giving the album a surreal effect, not to mention all the experimental studio techniques of the time. On the flip side, much of their material was influenced by producers and songwriters rather than being entirely self written, making their sound more structured. That’s why I think this album is a great introduction to psychedelic music. It captures all the best elements of the genre but presents them in a more polished and structured way, whereas many other albums of the era leaned more into improvisation.

This is definitely one of my favorite ’60s psychedelic albums. The vocals are echoed, reverbed, and hazy, while the guitars are fuzz-heavy and distorted, giving the album a surreal effect—not to mention all the experimental studio techniques of the time. On the flip side, much of their material was influenced by producers and songwriters rather than being entirely self-written, making their sound more structured. That’s why I think this album is a great introduction to psychedelic music. It captures all the best elements of the genre but presents them in a more polished and structured way, whereas many other albums of the era leaned more into improvisation.

4.5/5 Beautiful guitar work, a clear cohesive sound which is fantastical and dreamlike, and charming, delicate vocals. This album is pretty amazing. It starts crazy strong, but the second side is definitely if not weaker then more inconsistent. I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) 5/5 (FAV) Bangles 5/5 Onie 5/5 Are You Lovin' Me More (But Enjoying It Less) 5/5 Train For Tomorrow 4.5/5 Sold to the Highest Bidder 3.5/5 Get Me to the World on Time 5/5 About a Quarter to Nine 4/5 The King Is in the Counting House 3.5/5 Luvin' 5/5 Try Me on for Size 5/5 The Toonerville Trolley 3/5 (LEAST FAV)

Fun novel sound,, interesting throughout

Some delightful very sixties rock. They were the first band to use a wah-wah pedal, but not much evidence here.

Love! It’s pretty old so I feel like the fact that I like it and it’s old makes me like it more.

I loved it. Precursor to heavy metal

my shit

The quintessential 60s vibe. I remember it in my childhood. Instant hope and wonder about life and my world. I love this.

Surprisingly fire guitar tones

Listened to this on the way to the zoo and everything is making me feel like an excited kid. Really interesting first song. Fuck it, 5 stars

Great early psych rock with some baroque and garage elements.

My kind of music

Psychedelic masterpiece!

So funky and fun!

based on the cover and concept alone this feels like it's gonna slap, but let's see if it delivers The description said garage rock but because of the harmless looking 60s dudes in bowl cuts and turtlenecks i was not expecting full on cock music. really feels like the beginning of dudes in their garage just singing songs about getting laid. Still, it also has some deeper tracks with interesting instrumentation, such as About A Quarter To Nine. Toonerville Trolley is like a Fleischer Animation fever dream. Dark and ambienty, but also rough. Strong 4, if not 5. I've listened to this album 4 times in a row back to back tonight from how much i like it. once i fix my speakers i might try to hunt down a physical copy. Rounding to 5 because I've had this on repeat all week.

Loved it.

cool

The essence of psychedelic music

I’m so torn between a 4 or a 5 for this one. I absolutely love it. It’s heavy, it’s psychedelic, it’s eerie. But just about every song is so great. A really overlooked album.

Excellent 60's music.

Ah, grata sorpresa.

Wow! Sometimes, this project really surprises me with this kind of thing: An album and even an artist or band that I never heard about before and became a fan instantly. The first song sounds a little bit ~strange~ but when I got the vibe for it, it's a great album with the right number of songs and an excellent set (more songs could be too much)

Εxcellent album

This album was not available on my music streaming service. Instead, I listened to the second album "Underground". Which was quite good.

I love this album

Electrified air

As with most psychedelic garage rocks albums, seek out the mono version. On streaming, it's on the Then Came a Dawn compilation. It hits harder and "Dream" will get your love beads a-swingin'. I love the arc of this record, the cover within the cover, the trippy reach. The sweet songs like "Onie" are a great comedown from the bangers. It loses a star as it gets a little goofy at the end, but that was the style in those days. A rare psyche album that is more than just the handful of singles buffeted with filler.

Groovy stuff!!!

Proto-punk almost. 3.5/5

Bom, vale a pena ouvir outros albuns

Психоделия, повторенная потом в 80-х.

I was really pleasantly surprised by this. The Electric Prunes are an *incredibly* unique psych band. On their best tracks, psychedelic ideas are realized with a guitar tone so deeply mauled that there really is some early experimentation in incorporating electronic textures into rock here. I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night), Sold To The Highest Bidder, and Get Me To The World On Time are all basically psych-punk. And legitimately are some of the best songs of the '60s. The other stuff here ranges from decent to kind of stupid though. About A Quarter To Nine, The King Is In The Counting House, and The Toonerville Trolley are all kind of ridiculous, and kind of drop the ball a little. But the good stuff here is *so* good that this weird little album with it's skittery, broken guitars has really sold me.

solid album!