Artist:
Joe ?
- Genre: Rock
Biography
Some psychedelic rock fans may have a special motive when singing "Hey Joe" in the shower, specifically to pay homage to the Joe who is said to have belonged to Head Shop--a band that made one album in the '60s and not a place to go buy a bubbler. Originally released on yellow vinyl by Epic in the late '60s, The Head Shop has been in demand as both a collector's item and a reissue CD with extra tracks.Based on this amount of interest, skeptics seem correct in surmising that there was no such real band as Head Shop, furthermore no real far-out jammers so laid back that they were willing to be credited simply as Joe, $Danny, Drew, Geoffrey and Jesse. If these people actually existed and were not interested in stepping forward and identifying themselves as original members of the band, they would be the only people in the entire psychedelic scene desiring to remain anonymous.
The album in question was produced and arranged by Milan, real name Rick Rodell, a performer and songwriter from New York City who would have been fully capable of concocting a combo for the purpose of an Epic deal. Rodell's associate Max Ellen was also involved. Milan was licking the music scene at the time with a real combo called Licorice Schtik, while Ellen was squeezing his own band, Household Sponge. In some paisley-splattered histories the latter band is said to have evolved into the Head Shop, a bit of rock history that makes for a good trick question: Is it true the household sponge evolved into the head shop?
A reissue version of the Head Shop album contains four bonus tracks which were originally singles by Licorice Schtik and Household Sponge. It has been reported that modern jazz guitar maestro Larry Coryell plays on some tracks, providing a satisfying explanation for any questions concerning the surprisingly high quality improvising on the original tracks attributed to Head Shop. Regardless of who is playing, a high point--pun intended--in the history of cover songs has to be the so-called "bad acid" version of Bobby Hebb's "Sunny". ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
