100 Greatest Songs of the 60’s #79 The Electric Prunes – I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night

Released: 1966

You can argue all the interesting stuff about The Electric Prunes came after the success of I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night, their biggest hit single – and one only two in what would be a career which could form it’s own section of any music quiz.

Originally formed as The Sanctions, the LA based quintet of singer James Lowe, bass Mark Tulin, guitarists Ken Williams and Jim Spagnola plus drummer Preston Ritter released their debut album with stars-aligned timing in the spring of 1967. Preceding it was an oddity that began with a slab of reversed guitar and then just got weirder thanks to reverb, primitive fuzztone and eerie tremelo; if this was a dream, it was one from which you woke up having devoured your pillow.

So what happened after? Well. Too much to write down at length, but after the hits quickly dried up they recorded a religious concept album at the direction of David Axelrod called Mass in F Minor sung in Latin and Greek. Unsurprisingly a flop, however the track from it Kyrie Eleison ended up featuring on the soundtrack of Easy Rider. Played live only once, the entire original line up then quit after that gig, before a load of new guys made another concept album entitled Release of an Oath. There’s more, but you can find that out for yourselves. Sleep tight.