Count Five-"Psychotic Reaction"

Jim, "Psychotic Reaction" could easily have been the term to describe the feeling at Double-Shot once they realized that they had to get their suddenly-hot property pressed in huge quantities, pronto! :) As a result, several pressing plants were put to work to crank it out.

I loved the record and immediately wore out my original styrene Columbia pressing, and have picked up subsequent copies about as often as the cat lady on The Simpsons picks up strays. I happened to have the label from my college station's on-air copy (likewise a Columbia Terre Haute stock pressing) already scanned. This badly cue-burned copy was retired once the 1972 Elektra Nuggets LP appeared. It is identical to my original copy. Listed time is (2:56), actual is (3:07.)

I replaced my worn-out original in the early '70s with one that bore the same label copy, but had a brighter yellow color. It looks like a Monarch pressing, but bears neither the familiar Monarch deadwax logo nor a delta number. Listed time is (2:56), actual is (2:57.)

Somewhere along the line, I also picked up a used Rainbo vinyl pressing which has some slightly different label copy. It includes Double-Shot's phone number along with my favorite non-performing label credit of all time: "Promotion in Motion: Irwin Zucker." Lest anyone think that this vinyl pressing is some kind of holy grail, let me assure you that the plastic is of a very low grade. This pressing uses the same mother lacquer as the Monarch-pressed copy above, and the timing matches at (2:57.)

The (3:07) Columbia Terre-Haute pressing is pitched slightly faster than the Monarch and Rainbo copies, but not significantly so (only about .3 second faster toward the end.) Its fade begins only about a second or two later than that on the two (2:57) pressings, with the latter two being faded out significantly earlier.

The original Double-Shot logo didn't last long at all. Both my mono copy of the LP (purchased in December, 1966) and the follow-up 45, "Peace Of Mind" bore the newer "two-bullet" design, as did the LP cover. The hyphen in the Double-Shot name was also dropped at that point, and the label had moved to fancier digs on Sunset Boulevard.

Edited by Yah Shure

Todd Ireland wrote: Yah Shure, have you timed "Psychotic Reaction" on your LP copy to see if the song actually runs closer to the 3:03-3:05 length typically found on CD?

Here are the timings of what I'd mentioned above:

45s: (2:57) - Monarch & Rainbo pressings.
      (3:07) - Columbia Terre Haute pressings.     

mono LP: (3:05.945)

There is a speed difference between the Monarch & Rainbo 45 pressings and the mono LP. The LP track actually runs faster; a tad over 1.6 seconds faster than the 45 at the end. The 45 fade begins earlier than the LP track fade.

The 45 wins the sonics battle here; the LP track lacks the kick and punch of the bass and drums found on the 45.


Edited by Yah Shure

my commercial 45 issued as double-shot 104 states the run
time as 2:56 but actually runs 3:03 and is the same speed
and version as the nuggets from nuggets cd..my runout
groove info is "ds 107 104-a"....can all who have the
commercial 45 confirm their run times...thx edtop40

Edited by edtop40

Wow, thanks Steve for pointing out there was an unedited
version. In all these years I never heard of it. I also
never noticed the fast break at the end was merely the
one from the middle tacked on the end.
For anyone else curious to hear the original ending it is
on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPahGkhfjA0

Awesome!

Can I assume correctly that the mono 45 did NOT feature
the flange effect found on the (E) stereo LP version?

I ask because I dubbed what I thought was an original
pressing. But based on the above info it must me one of
the many many re-pressings. It's also in (E) stereo with
stereo reverb added, and has the flange effect. But oddly
it's NOT the same as the (E) LP version I've always heard.
On this 45, it's not channel-delayed like the LP but
rather the delay is centered and the stereo reverb is
added on top of that. Very bizarre.
MM