the hippie revolt film - unknown grateful dead jam?

Yeah you read that correctly  in 1967 a movie titled 'something's happening' aka 'the hippie revolt' aka 'the world of acid' was released to little fanfare and did little business but today it's seen as a historical document as so many of these long forgotten films are. The film its self was directed by edgar beatty with music by the 'love generation' (more of which later...)...filmed in los angeles/san francisco/santa barbara and at a commune going by the name of strawberry fields it is pure explotation featuring all the elements that mothers and fathers everywhere were afraid of for their children...

released in december 1967.

 For many years it was thought and still is by many to contain a long forgotten grateful dead jam from 'winterland' where one of ken kesey and the pranksters last acid test's was held on the 31/10/66... in fact a graduation...

Its this doubtful nature of the film and its soundtrack that has led many to believe one particular section that features a  'psychedelic ballroom' scene which has a fuzzed-out long 9min guitar jam was an early grateful dead tune...but backing up a little the winterland show was 31/10/66 and i've seen several dead sites that have the jam listed from that date but a simple check will tell you that the film was filmed in early '67 and not released untill december of that year! The scene its self (and i'll post a link below to my youtube channel...) is pretty good but just where it was filmed is open to question and who is the group playing?...some have thought for a while that it was 'the anonymous artists of america' as they appear on the winterland bill and again i'll post a link here  where speculation is rife as to its author...

winterland archives

the hippie revolt

Its also here i will hopefully lay bare the story of that track as i think i lucked out when i found an interview with one of the soundtrack writer's tom bahler....i will not go into his history too much as its a fasinating account of musicians trying to make a success in the music world but never quite hitting the big time! BrothersTom and john bahler after several years knocking around los angeles in various capacities as composers/arrangers/musicians/vocalists and fixers (they would help groups by fixing problems with their vocals....fix parts...replace parts...or simply add their vocals along to the singers....they worked with the infamous wrecking crew on countless sessions...many young bands needed help in the studio so these studio fixers were needed...one of their many clients were the Monkees but we will leave things there..)..By '67 they decided to put together their own group and along with mitch gordon/jim wasson/marilyn miller & ann white called themselves 'the love generation' they quickly signed to 'imperial records' through a friend of a friend...in all three albums were released as were many singles the best known probably 'montage'...never a big act with their smooth vocal harmonies and summer sounds they never toured and it was this that held them back with no exposure to a mass market...they did do some t.v.shows but it was studio work that was their forte...
 

 As you can see from the publicity shot of the band they were smooth clean cut, dressed with hip clothes & appealing to a certain audience that enjoyed their high quality close harmony vocals and none too heavy backing tracks i.e.no psychedelic trickery of fuzz-boxes and sitars!

tom bahler.

john bahler.

When the bahler brothers were asked to provide a musical soundtrack to 'somethings happening/the hippie revolt/the world of acid' little did they know a puzzle of sorts would be left behind to confuse us all not knowing who was playing i.e.the grateful dead/the anonymous artists of america? or who?....the love generation sung the opening theme (written by the brothers..) 'different now' and are credited as such in the titles but then the psychedelic ballroom scene pops along for a full 9 minutes it leaves people guessing just who it is!..without a doubt its the group...just listen to the opening song and then the 'psychedelic jam' to hear the very same fuzz-guitar and the recurring theme returning through out the track...all the band could play several instruments and the bahler brothers could  compose/arrange & play this stuff standing on their heads....(but were any wrecking crew members involved?) a question i should ask knowing their background...if you have any comments or further information please contact me here or e.mail : sfscene@outlook.com