Evil Hoodoo
by The Seeds
1988 album
The 1988 Seeds compilation Evil Hoodoo remains a great introduction to the music of the 1960s-era Seeds for new fans. Evil Hoodoo, named after the song of the same title, collects all the hits like "Pushin' Too Hard", "Can't Seem To Make You Mine", and "Mr. Farmer" and also includes a great selection of other Seeds classics, like "Chocolate River", "Out Of The Question", "Satisfy You", "Tripmaker", "Up In Her Room" (in an abbreviated version) and more.
There was nothing new or (as of 1988) unreleased on Evil Hoodoo, though it was the first CD appearance of some tracks from the 1977 rarities LP Fallin' Off The Edge. There are also no pre-Seeds Sky Saxon teen idol songs nor any of the post-1969 singles with Sky Saxon’s various versions of The Seeds — all of those songs were on other labels, whereas this Bam Caruso/Drop Out compilation was licensed from GNP Crescendo. There are four songs from the band’s first album, four from A Web Of Sound, four from Future (plus the unlisted "Introduction"), one from Raw And Alive, two single-only tracks, and one outtake ("Chocolate River") first released on 1977’s Fallin' Off The Edge.
Lineup-wise, it is hard to argue with what’s here, and even naming tracks that “shoulda” been included can be difficult. The focus is on quality, not comprehensiveness, and only The Seeds’ psychedelic/garage/punk songs are present — which means that A Full Spoon Of Seedy Blues is completely bypassed. Also getting short shrift is the 1968 faux-live album Raw And Alive — "Satisfy You", one of that album’s best songs, is here but includes the fake crowd noises. (The ‘clean’ mix would be released in 1993 on Travel With Your Mind.) It might have been nice to include something more slow and psychedelic — "900 Million People Daily (All Making Love)" perhaps, or "A Faded Picture", or the trebly, mystic "Travel With Your Mind" — but then it’s hard to choose what you would boot off Evil Hoodoo to make room.
Evil Hoodoo was released on vinyl and CD; there were marble-colored vinyl and picture disc versions (limited to 1,000 copies) made in addition to the regular black vinyl. The LP’s front cover art uses a photograph of the 1960s band that was also used, cropped and colored, on the 1983 compilation album New Fruit From Old Seeds: The Rare Sky Saxon Volume 1. (The CD version uses a different but common shot of the band in a greenhouse, originally seen on a 7-inch picture sleeve in 1967.)
The Evil Hoodoo comp was just what the market needed in 1988, when psychedelic 1960s music in general, including The Seeds, was being rediscovered not only by nostalgic baby boomers but by a younger generation just starting to build its music collections. Presenting The Seeds in a neat little sunny, psych-punk package made for a great addition to those budding collections, even if it was the beginning of the unfortunate Seeds revisionism that saw the band’s punk side overshadow its psychedelic side and the marginalization of the A Full Spoon Of Seedy Blues and Raw And Alive LPs.
At any rate, and quite unfortunately, Evil Hoodoo has fallen out of print, which is a shame because it is really the ideal introduction to the band’s raw sound and psych/punk approach. In the plus column, used copies of the CD and vinyl are not too hard to find from online vendors.
Track listing
1. "March Of The Flower Children" – from Future; includes the "Introduction"
2. "The Wind Blows Your Hair" – 1967 single
3. "Tripmaker" – from A Web Of Sound (1966)
4. "Try To Understand" – from The Seeds (1966)
5. "Evil Hoodoo" – from The Seeds (1966)
6. "Chocolate River" – from Fallin' Off The Edge (1977)
7. "Pushin' Too Hard" – from The Seeds (1966)
8. "Fallin' Off The Edge Of My Mind" – 1969 single
9. "Mr. Farmer" – from A Web Of Sound (1966)
10. "Up In Her Room" – from A Web Of Sound (2:40 edit)
11. "Can't Seem To Make You Mine" – from The Seeds (1966)
12. "Pictures And Designs" – from Future (1967)
13. "Flower Lady And Her Assistant" – from Future (1967)
14. "Rollin' Machine" – from A Web Of Sound (1966)
15. "Out Of The Question" – from Future (1967)
16. "Satisfy You" – from Raw & Alive – The Seeds In Concert, Merlin’s Music Box (1968)
