Various - Can't Seem To Come Down: The American Sounds Of 1968 (CD)

Sealed. Three CD set. 

Follow-up to Grapefruit's hugely popular US 1967 anthology 'March Of The Flower Children'. Hit singles, cult classics and tracks from 1968's key albums as the American music scene moved on from the Summer of Love. While psychedelia had been the dominant musical force in 1967, the scene fragmented the following year. Although many acts remained immersed in garage-punk and psychedelic pop, a growing number of heavily-amplified, blues-based hard rock bands like Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf and Iron Butterfly - all of whom enjoyed sizeable hit singles in 1968 - emerged to pave the way for what would develop into heavy metal. Manufactured pop in the form of bubblegum dominated the singles chart, The Byrds and other easy riders developed a country/rock hybrid, a phalanx of folk-based singer/songwriters came to the fore, while Bob Dylan and his occasional playmates The Band pioneered a more organic, rustic sound that would come to be known as Americana. Over four hours and 3 CDs, 'Can't Seem To Come Down: The American Sounds Of 1968' weaves together these various strands to provide a fascinating overview of the year. The set encompasses national and regional hit singles, unexpected flops (The Grateful Dead, The Left Banke), subsequently influential mavericks (Velvet Underground, Beefheart, Silver Apples) and vital cuts from many of the year's most keenly-awaited albums (Dylan, The Band, Mothers of Invention, The Byrds, Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, etc). It also feature a number of hugely collectable one-off singles from young provincial bands, who visited local studios to preserve their sound for posterity before the real world - and possibly the increasing conflict in Vietnam intervened. Including a 48-page booklet filled with biographical details, rare photos and quotes, 'Can't Seem To Come Down' is another essential Grapefruit purchase.

Disc 1
1 Fresh Garbage - Spirit
2 Come Alive - Things to Come
3 The Shoemaker of Leatherwear Square - the Lemon Pipers
4 Come Ride, Come Ride - the Merry-Go-Round
5 Draft Morning - the Byrds
6 All Along the Watchtower-Bob Dylan
7 Here She Comes Now - Thevelvet Underground
8 No Regrets - Tom Rush
9 Everybody's Next One -Steppenwolf
10 Thing in 'E' - the Savage Resurrection
11 You Can't Erase a Mirror -Children of the Mushroom
12 Which End Is Up - Diamond Rings
13 Words of the Raven -Piece Kor
14 Who Needs the Peace
15 Corps - the Mothers of Invention
16 Pretty Song from Psych-Out - Strawberry Alarm Clock
17 Three O'Clock Merrian Webster Time - the Nomads
18 Strawberry Tuesday -Sidewalk Skipper Band
19 Silver Birch - Del Shannon
20 Delilah - Brian Hyland
21 You Are Your Only
22 Mystery - the Baroque Monthly
23 Freaky Girl - Spontaneous Corruption
24 The Garden of Earthly
25 Delights - the United States of America
26 Dedicated Music Man -Mortimer
27 Fields of People - Ars Nova
28 The Setting of Despair -Crystal Chandelier
29 Dark Star (Single Version) - the Grateful Dead
30 Tin Angel (Will You Ever Come Down) - Hearts and Flowers

Disc 2
1 When I Arrive - We the People
2 (Poor Old) Mr. Jensen -1910 Fruitgum Co
3 Just a Taste - the Kaleidoscope
4 The Face - the Human Beinz
5 Eighteen Is Over the Hill - the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
6 Summer - Lemon Fog
7 Awake in a Dream - the Critters
8 Rupert White - Eternity's Children
9 Light Your Windows - Quicksilver Messenger Service 10 Three-Part Invention (Too Many Trees in the Forest) - the Phoenix Trolley
10 Laughing Stock - Love
11 Little Bird - the Beach Boys
12 Oscillations - Silver Apples
13 Shadows - the Electric Prunes
14 You're in My Mind - Graf Zepplin
15 Dark Is the Bark - the Left Banke
16 Cowboys and Indians - October Country
17 The Island - the Millennium
18 Wheel of Changes - the Wind in the Willows
19 Lantern Gospel - the World Column
20 This Wheel's on Fire - the Band
21 In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (Single Edit) - Iron Butterfly
22 P. S. (Prognosis Stegnosis)-The Truth
23 Green Knight - the Movement
24 Paisley Haze - the Vectors
25 Never Sad - the Sunstone Lollypop
26 Trust - the Peppermint Trolley
27 Can't Seem to Come Down -Mother's Worry

Disc 3
1 Questions - Buffalo Springfield
2 Satisfy You (Single Mix) - the Seeds
3 Maypole - the Children
4 Johann Sebastian
5 Cheetah - the Yankee Dollar
6 Crystal Liaison - the Fugs
7 Everything's Changing -Kak
8 Feathers from Your Tree-Blue Cheer
9 Lasy Day on Earth -Velvet Haze
10 Daystar - SRC
11 Mobius Trip - H. P. Lovecraft
12 Safe As Milk - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
13 I'll Drive You from My Mind - the Fallen Angels
14 Mr. Tripp Wouldn't Listen - the Little Boy Blues
15 Back of Your Mind -Nazz
16 Psychedelic Movement -The Ravelles
17 Crowd Pleaser - the Yellow Payges
18 I Want to Hold Your Hand (Alternative Take 2) - the Moving Sidewalks
19 Hell Will Take Care of You - Brass Buttons
20 Turn Around - the Beau Brummels
21 Johnny Silver's Ride -Glad
22 Rich Man's Fable - Merrell Fankhauser & H.M.S. Bounty
23 Crimson and Clover - Tommy James & the Shondells
24 An Elegy - the Free Design
25 Can You Dig It - the Monkees