“Why” / “Baby Get Your Head Screwed On” was the first single by the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania group the Legends, who are best known for their devastating 1969 psych single “High Towers” / “Fever Games”.
This lineup of the Legends was:
Larry Swartzwelder – lead guitar
Dan Hartman – keyboards
Derek Parsons – bass
Ralph Schwartz – drums
Earlier members of the band included Dave Hartman guitar and vocals and Denny Woolridge bass; later members included Gene Brenner guitar, Joe Caloiero bass and vocals, Dave Cope on bass, and Larry Sadler on drums.
The Legends story is told elsewhere in some detail, but there is little about this release on the internet.
The A-side is an original by Dan Hartman, “Why”, featuring a soulful vocal over a backing dominated by the organ.
The Legends probably found “Baby Get Your Head Screwed On” from the version by the Double Feature, a British duo from Birmingham, Bill Hall and Brian Lake. Double Feature had two singles on Deram, both of which saw release in the US. It’s also possible the Legends heard the song on its composer Cat Stevens’ first album, Matthew and Son which also had a US release in 1967.
John Ulrich produced the single, and published “Why” through John Ulrich Music. Gene Eichelberger engineered the single, released on Up Records 2202-7-13. The single is styrene, with X-5291/2 etched in the deadwax.Dan Hartman designed a picture sleeve with a crude b&w drawing very similar to the sleeve for the Blues Magoos “Pipe Dream”. It was not used for the single until many years later, when Billy S. reproduced the drawing with a discography on the back to sell a small amount of copies of the original single. Thank you to Thomas Grosh for sending in the scan.
Up Records was part of Bridge Society Records which had some other fine releases including:
The Shan-Dells ”Chimes” / “Little Girl” and their soul classic ” I’ve Got To Love Her” / “Idle Excursion”
The Evil “I” – “Love Conquers All” / “Can’t Live Without You”
The Legends second single, “Keep On Running” / “Cheating”
Info on band lineups from the Arf! Arf! compilation High Towers [1965-1973].
Hey, I would like to post this to the Bands of Central Pennsylvania Facebook Page…Please?
Hi Wally,
It’s fine to post a link to it and an image, but not the entire text and post.
If any of the Legends are on the page please let them know, I’d like to hear their view of it.
Thanks,
Chris
My Father was the one who designed and layed out the 1st 45 sleeve cover for Dan and the Legends. I remember Dan coming in to my fathers store that day which was 3 blocks from where Dan lived. Dans father Carl was my dads cousin.