Dan Nielsén, who had conducted the interview with John Ford of the Index published here back in February, asked me to dig into the story of the Scorpio Tube, the group behind the incredible B-side “Yellow Listen”.
The lead guitar track dominates the sound with a piercing distortion and echo that breaks up with stroboscopic effect. You can hardly hear the piano in the background, though it provides much of the droning sound at the intro and becomes apparent towards the end as the lead guitar is mixed down.
I just recently heard the A-side, “White Birches” and it’s more polished than “Yellow Listen”, with a progressive sound that would have done fine on radio at the time. The instrumental break is excellent too.
As far as info goes, I know what the label tells me, that both songs were written by Conn. MacDonald.
H. Eugene MacDonald produced the record for Vita Records from Hollywood, CA, which is probably not the same Vita owned by Laurence Mead that released a good number of records in the 1950’s with a Pasadena address.
As for dating this, it may have been recorded as late as 1970.
Transfer of “Yellow Listen” taken from the expanded CDR version of Psychedelic Disaster Whirl. Thanks also to bosshoss for the scan of “White Birches”. Transfer of “White Birches” sent to me by Max Waller.
I interviewed Mr. McDonald a while back and he told me the songs were recorded as a studio group experiment. The songs were released as demos in the fall of 1970.
His dad, Eugene, was a hotel manager, with operations based in San Diego and Hollywood. He wanted to be a record producer, and thus, he started Vita Records in 1967.
Conn’s first group was the 50th Anniversary Zoo, a high-school based combo from San Diego. They recorded a single in 1967 “Love Man”. After graduation Conn kept up with music and songwriting, relocating to Los Angeles. He had several ideas for some songs, and that’s how “White Birches” (which sounds sort of like the 20th Century Zoo’s “Stallion Of Fate”) and “Yellow Listen” came about. A studio drummer (name forgotten at the time of interview) was used during the recording session. Conn played rhythm, with the harsh strumming run thru a flanging effect. The lead guitarist was the son of a famous symphony guy, as Conn related, named Gary Rose.
Thanks for sharing that information with us!
Really bad though that it only was a studio project, I always fantisized that it was this group with obscure performances, especially with songs like “Yellow Listen”. The interview you did with Mr. McDonald, did you ever publish it or intend to do it?
Thanks,
Danny
White Birches is a better song than Stallion of Fate, in my opinion. The latter is less tuneful and honestly just one of those songs that tries too hard. It’s a shame that there weren’t any other Scorpio Tube releases because the songs and the production are both quite fun.
To my knowledge (little as it is) “White Birches” hasn’t been comped, am I correct?
I’ve never seen it on a compilation but I don’t buy the things or pay much attention to them really. I’ve looked for more information for a long time though so I’ve seen it said more than once.
How did I miss when this went up? A thousand thanks!
Is this the first time 50th Anniversary Zoo and 20th Century Zoo were referenced in the same article?
Any idea what kind of keyboard/organ was used on White Birches, anyone??
Someone could share the lyrics of White Birches please? It’s for cover that