One of the most commercially successful American garage bands of the 60s, and second only to 13th Floor Elevators in terms of cult status, The Electric Prunes are here served in all their heyday glory over 41 tracks, with many previously unissued.
In Seattle, the core group recorded demos as far back as 1965. Moving to LA and meeting RCA staff producer, David Hassinger secured them a deal with Reprise. Hassinger provided the Vox Wah-Wah pedal intro idea for Too Much To Dream, and the Prunes’ contract actually gave him total control of their music. Hence, their debut 1967 album of the same name is a catch-all of British Invasion ditties, with little going for it than the title track, which scraped the UK charts.
With Hassinger busy producing The Grateful Dead, the band had more say in the same year’s psych-fest follow-up, Underground. The Great Banana Hoax and Long Day’s Flight are acid-rock in excelsis and, for weirdness’ sake, Wind-Up Toys is bona fide psych. Hassinger and the Prunes’ management then recorded a psychedelic Mass with session musicians. Only one Prunes original, Kyrie Eleison, surfaced. Its inclusion on the Easy Rider soundtrack was a valediction for one of the great lost hippie bands.
