Various Artists - KHJ Third Annual Appreciation Concert, Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA, 8-16-1968

First, some bad news. I've been having some problems with my computer, which is why I haven't posted anything here in the past couple of days. I had to take it into a repair shop. I was excited to get it back home today, only to find there are still some problems, so I have to take it back tomorrow for further fixes. But while I have it today, I can post some albums.

Now, the good news: I'm very psyched to post this concert. It's not often we get concerts like this from this 1960s, and this one was very hard to find. Hopefully it will get wider exposure now. It was put on by a Los Angeles radio station, KHJ, and it was broadcast on that station at the time. It featured four musical acts: the Yellow Payges, Tommy James and the Shondells, the (Young) Rascals, and Eric Burdon and the Animals.

As you can see from the title, this was the third such annual concert for KHJ. The first one, in 1966, featured Sonny and Cher (as the main headliners), Donovan, Bob Lind, the Knickerbockers, the Mamas & the Papas, the Modern Folk Quartet, Otis Redding, and the Turtles. It would be incredible to hear that, but I've never heard of a recording existing for it. Luckily, a recording for the second annual concert in 1967 does exist, and I posted it at this blog in 2024. The one featured Buffalo Springfield, the Fifth Dimension, Brenda Holloway, the Seeds, Johnny Rivers, and the Supremes. If you missed it, here's the page for the link:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2024/05/various-artists-khj-second-annual.html

Just like that 1967 concert, this one featured musical acts that rarely or never were bootlegged. Let's start with the first act, the Yellow Payges. If you've never heard of them, don't feel bad. They never had much commercial success, and have pretty much been forgotten. However, they released ten singles in the 1960s, as well as an album in 1969, before breaking up in 1970. Looking at their reviews at the crowd-sourced rateyourmusic.com, it seems they were pretty good, but struggled for a distinctive style. They ranged from poppy to acid rock. 

Their set here consisted almost entirely of covers, even though it seems they had some good original material. The only song they did in this set that wasn't a classic or hit for another musical act is "Crowd Pleaser."  

Here's their Wiki page, if you want to know more:

The Yellow Payges - Wikipedia

Tommy James and the Shondells were very popular in the mid to late 1960s. But they were seen as a light-weight singles band. They had many big hits that you probably know, even if you don't know they did the original hit versions. They had two songs that reached Number One in the U.S.:  "Hanky Panky" in 1966,  and "Crimson and Clover" in 1969. Some of their other big hits were "I Think We're Alone Now," "Mirage," "Mony Mony," "Sweet Cherry Wine," and "Crystal Blue Persuasion." Some of those, like "Crimson and Clover," hadn't been recorded yet at the time of this concert. But still, their set consisted of several original hits, plus some covers: a medley of "People Get Ready" and "Get Ready," "Baby I Need Your Loving," and "What the World Needs Now Is Love."

I have never seen any bootleg or even official live album from this musical act in their 1960s prime, so it's really nice to find this one. True, they were known for their singles, not their live performances, but still, they acquitted themselves well here. And it appears they never recorded the three covers I mentioned above, so those are all unique to this concert recording, I believe.

Here's their Wikipedia entry:

Tommy James and the Shondells - Wikipedia 

The Rascals were similar to Tommy James and the Shondells in that they were mainly known for their singles, and they had many hit singles in the 1960s. For the first couple years of their success, they were known as the Young Rascals. But even though they were still called that on the poster for this concert (as seen in the cover art), they actually changed their name to just the Rascals in early 1968, many months prior to this concert. At the time of this concert, they were probably at the peak of their popularity. Just one month earlier, they released the single "People Got to Be Free." It was their last huge hit, reaching Number One in the U.S. singles chart. Prior to that, their hits "Good Lovin'," "Groovin'," "How Can I Be Sure," and "A Beautiful Morning" all reached the Top Five in the U.S., with the first two making it to Number One. 

Unfortunately, starting in 1969, the band switched styles, lessening their popularity. They broke up in 1972, and had very few reunions after that. I posted one of their rare full reunions, meaning all the original members participated, as part of an Atlantic Records tribute concert in 1988. You can find that at this blog as well.

Just like Tommy James and the Shondells, there is very little live recordings from the Rascals in their 1960s prime. I've found some songs here and there they performed on various TV shows, and I made an album of that. I noticed just now I've never gotten around to posting that on this blog, so I should probably do that. But, other than that, the only 1960s bootlegs I've seen are short and problematic, and there are no official live albums either. So this has to be the best live recording from them in the 1960s.

Here's their Wikipedia entry: 

The Rascals - Wikipedia 

The final act of the concert, and the headliner, was Eric Burdon and the Animals. Funnily enough, just like Tommy James and the Shondells and the Rascals, there are surprisingly few good live recordings from this band from the 1960s. There are some, but most of those suffer from sound quality issues and/or are quite short. I've posted the best one I could find at this blog, a concert in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 1968. Their appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival was excellent (though short), and I've posted that here as well. Plus, there's a lot of BBC material from them as well. But still, considering how famous they were, one would have expected more live recordings to survive. At least this recording can be added in.

At the time of this concert, the Animals were on the decline. Singles were essential to success in the 1960s, and they only had one Top Forty hit in 1968, "Sky Pilot." They broke up at the end of the year. This concert avoided their earlier big hits and concentrated on material the band had done in the last year or so.

However, I strongly suspect there was more to their performance that isn't included here. They were the headliners for this concert. If you look at the 1967 KHJ concert, the headliners (the Supremes) for that one performed for about 50 minutes, 15 minutes longer than what we have for the Animals here. But that's just a guess, I don't know. However, clearly, this concert recording isn't 100 percent complete. For instance, we have DJ intros for the first three acts but not the Animals. Also, I got the Animals portion of this concert from a separate source than the rest, increasing the odds that something might be missing.

Now, let me address sound quality. This was broadcast on a radio station at the time, so this is really good for the 1960s. But still, broadcasting live music was rare in the 1960s, and the sound quality still left something to be desired. So I tried to fix the music as best I could. I ran every song through the MVSEP program twice, fixing different things each time. So it definitely sounds better now. However, the 1967 KHJ concert recording still sounds better, in my opinion.

This album is an hour and 58 minutes long. 

01 talk by emcee (Yellow Payges)
02 Uptight [Everything's Alright] (Yellow Payges)
03 Turn On Your Lovelight (Yellow Payges)
04 Sunshine of Your Love (Yellow Payges)
05 talk (Yellow Payges)
06 Crowd Pleaser (Yellow Payges)
07 Lady Jane (Yellow Payges)
08 I'm a Man (Yellow Payges)
09 talk by emcee (Tommy James & the Shondells)
10 People Get Ready - Get Ready (Tommy James & the Shondells)
11 Mirage (Tommy James & the Shondells)
12 Baby I Need Your Loving (Tommy James & the Shondells)
13 talk (Tommy James & the Shondells)
14 Gettin' Together (Tommy James & the Shondells)
15 What the World Needs Now Is Love (Tommy James & the Shondells)
16 Hanky Panky (Tommy James & the Shondells)
17 Mony Mony (Tommy James & the Shondells)
18 I Think We're Alone Now (Tommy James & the Shondells)
19 talk (Tommy James & the Shondells)
20 Gettin' Together [Reprise] (Tommy James & the Shondells)
21 talk by emcee (Rascals)
22 talk (Rascals)
23 Do You Feel It (Rascals)
24 Love Is a Beautiful Thing (Rascals)
25 talk (Rascals)
26 I'm So Happy Now (Rascals)
27 talk (Rascals)
28 Groovin' (Rascals)
29 A Girl like You (Rascals)
30 A Place in the Sun (Rascals)
31 A Beautiful Morning (Rascals)
32 People Got to Be Free (Rascals)
33 New York 1963 - America 1968 (Animals)
34 San Franciscan Nights (Animals)
35 talk (Animals)
36 Monterey - New York 1963, America 1968 - Monterey (Animals)
37 Sky Pilot (Animals)
38 talk by emcee (Animals)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/rna1kUgu

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/wLgVu304138pdrc/file

I couldn't find any photos from this exact concert. However, I found some promotional material, so I used that. I had to make some changes to make it fit into a square shape.