THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,154) The Seeds — “No Escape”
“Sky [Saxon] breathlessly cries for freedom, audaciously slipping frequently into something like a stoned, sandy southern drawl” (tasos epit, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_WQYBkbpa4) in the Seeds’ (see #116, 446, 1,441, 1,491) “raucous and sniveling statement of intent . . . . The origins of much garage and punk rock music is right here on this headspinner.” (https://www.skysaxonseeds.com/songs)
“What can I do when your love’s gone All I can do is just live on”
Mark Deming writes of the Seeds:
Of the great garage punk bands of the 1960s . . . few seemed like a bad influence on so many levels as the Seeds. The Seeds had long hair, a gloriously lamentable fashion sense, an attitude that was at once petulant and lackadaisical, and music that sounded aimless, horny, agitated, and stoned all at once. Is it any wonder America’s delinquent youth loved them? The Seeds’ aural signature was as distinctive as any band of their era, and they got a bit fancier with their formula as they went along, but they never captured their essential seediness with more impressive concision than they did on their self-titled debut album from 1966. Dominated by the fierce, drawling yelp of Sky Saxon’s vocals and Daryl Hooper’s hypnotically repetitive keyboard patterns, and supported by the snarling report of Jan Savage’s guitar and Rick Andridge’s implacable drumming, the Seeds had a limited bag of melodic tricks, but they hardly seemed to care that roughly half their songs sounded identical, as Saxon bellowed about people who had done him wrong in some way or another (usually women) and the band locked into cyclical grooves that picked up impressive momentum when they gained enough traction . . . . On their second album, A Web of Sound, the Seeds would become more blatant in their celebrations of sex and drugs, but the glorious primitivism and narrower focus of their debut ultimately works to their advantage; there are few albums of the era that mirror the delicious arrogance of a beer-sodden teenage misfit with the effortless simplicity of the Seeds, and it’s justly celebrated as a classic of first-wave garage punk.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine adds:
[T]hough they never quite matched the commercial peak of their first two singles, “Pushin’ Too Hard” [see #116] and “Can’t Seem to Make You Mine,” the band continued to record for the remainder of the ’60s, eventually delving deep into post-Sgt. Pepper’s psychedelia and art rock. None of their new musical directions resulted in another hit single, and the group disbanded at the turn of the decade. Sky Saxon . . . and guitarist Jan Savage formed the [band] . . . in Los Angeles in 1965. By the end of 1966, they had secured a contract with GNP Crescendo, releasing “Pushin’ Too Hard” [which] climbed into the Top 40 early in 1967 . . . . While their singles were garage punk, the Seeds . . . branch[ed] out into improvisational blues-rock and psychedelia on their first two albums . . . . With their third album . . . the band attempted a psychedelic concept album . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-seeds-mn0000500664/biography
Here is the ’66 B-side version:
From “one of the best Fake Live Albums ever” (Mark Deming, https://www.allmusic.com/album/raw-alive-the-seeds-in-concert-at-merlins-music-box-mw0000678031), here is the ’68 recorded live in the studio version (sans the added sounds of imaginary screaming fans):
Here it is with the imaginary screaming fans:
Here is Cabaret Voltaire (’79):
Here is the British punk band Chelsea (’80):
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