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Silver Apples (album)

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Silver Apples
Studio album by
ReleasedJune 1968 (1968-06)
Genre
Length32:27
LabelKapp
Producer
  • The Magical Theatre Partnership
  • Barry Bryant
Silver Apples chronology
Silver Apples
(1968)
Contact
(1969)
Singles from Silver Apples
  1. "Whirly-Bird" / "Oscillations"
    Released: June 1968[3]

Silver Apples is the debut studio album by the American band Silver Apples. It was released in June 1968 by record label Kapp.[4] It was the band's most successful original album, reaching 193 on the Billboard 200.

The album was re-released in 1997 by MCA Records and was compiled with the band's second album, Contact. It has been critically acknowledged as a pioneering fusion of rock and electronic music.

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Sputnikmusic4/5[6]

Legacy

[edit]

Adam Bunch of Crawdaddy! wrote in 2007: "Silver Apples is a record that reached far ahead of its time. It's not surprising then, in a year when the airwaves were still dominated by Motown and the Beatles (whose experimentation was tame by comparison), that it failed to garner much of an audience. Even now, nearly forty years later, the record sounds fresh and unconventional – in 1968 there simply wasn't anything else like it."[1] The Vinyl Factory included the record as one of the best electronic albums of the 1950s and 1960s, calling the album "a stunning collection of rickety electronic grooves and hydraulic wheezes," noting that "the compositions are often harmonically static, giving the record a driving, hypnotic quality. There’s not a bum track on it."[2]

The track "Oscillations" placed at number 119 on Pitchfork's list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s",[7] while it placed 48th on a similar list by NME.[8] The album itself would later be ranked by Pitchfork as the 77th best of the decade,[9] while Spin ranked it 25th on their list of "The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s".[10]

John Lennon was a fan of the album.[11]

Track listing

[edit]
Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Oscillations"
  • Simeon Coxe III
  • Danny Taylor
  • Stanley Warren
2:48
2."Seagreen Serenades"
  • Simeon
  • Taylor
  • Warren
2:55
3."Lovefingers"
  • Simeon
  • Taylor
  • Warren
4:11
4."Program"
  • Simeon
  • Taylor
  • Warren
4:07
5."Velvet Cave"
  • Simeon
  • Taylor
  • Warren
3:30
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Whirly-Bird"
  • Simeon
  • Taylor
  • Warren
2:41
2."Dust"
  • Simeon
  • Taylor
  • Warren
3:40
3."Dancing Gods"Navajo Indian Ceremonial5:57
4."Misty Mountain"
  • Simeon
  • Taylor
  • Eileen Lewellen
2:47

Personnel

[edit]
Silver Apples
  • Dan Taylor – drums, percussion, vocals
  • Simeon – oscillators, flute, vocals
Technical
  • Don Van Gorden – engineering
  • Anonymous Arts – sleeve art
  • Virginia Dwan – sleeve photography

Charts

[edit]
Chart (1968) Peak position
US Billboard 200[12] 193

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Bunch, Adam (May 16, 2007). "Shine On Silver Apples". Crawdaddy!. Archived from the original on August 23, 2007. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  2. ^ a b FACT Team (30 May 2014). "The greatest electronic albums of the 1950s and 1960s". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Record Reviews: Newcomer Picks" (PDF). Cash Box: 14. June 15, 1968.
  4. ^ "New Albums". Billboard. Vol. 80, no. 25. June 22, 1968. p. 25.
  5. ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Silver Apples – Silver Apples | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  6. ^ "Silver Apples - Silver Apples (Album review ) | Sputnikmusic".
  7. ^ Sherburne, Philip (August 15, 2006). "Staff Lists: The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s | Features | Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  8. ^ "100 Best Songs of the 1960s". NME. 26 March 2012.
  9. ^ "The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s". Pitchfork.
  10. ^ "Silver Apples – Silver Apples (Kapp, 1968) SPIN". Archived from the original on 2020-01-31. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  11. ^ Wray, Daniel Dylan (2019-04-09). "The great 60s electro-pop plane crash: how pioneers Silver Apples fell out of the sky". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  12. ^ "Billboard 200 - Week of August 17, 1968". Billboard. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
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