Download or Listen to T. Swift and the Electric Bag – Are You Experienced? from the Custom Lp

Greeting FMF peeps, I’m hoping you liked the raw and uncut mix I dropped the other day. I wanted to do it that way. With so much access to correcting everything you can put out digitally, I figured what the hell? Let me simulate a live set vibe and see how it goes. Is it perfect? Hell no! I’m hoping that you all got what I was trying to do, just do something a little different by throwing out a curve ball. So in keeping up with the Rock tradition (sort of), I wanted to throw this side out that I scooped up at one of the Asbury Lanes record swaps. It looked interesting enough, and just for 10 bucks, I figured what the hell. Here’s T. Swift and the Electric Bag with “Are You Experienced?” on Custom Records from 1968.

There really isn’t too much out there on this gem of a record. Who is T.Swift? For that matter, who is the Electric Bag? This record has been called a “psychsploitation toss off” by certain people. It has been speculated that the whole band was contrived in some major record board room to redo popular cuts of the day. Some say this band of California studio cats ripped off Hendrix, the Box Tops, and Classic IV by doing interpretations and covers of their songs. Still others say that this band was related to Tom Smith and the Electric Grandmothers, a band who put out a side on on Sound Tex in the Early 60’s. This has also been shook off by experts as pure coincidence. This record was released on Custom and later different cuts were reissued on a few other labels, as of late Gear Fab. Another label pinned on this type of recording, an specifically this record was “exploito”. Basically the record label hires a band to play said popular songs of the time, (more specifically songs in a certain genre that cater say to the Psychedelic kids in this case). A record is made, and then put out unlicensed and uncredited to to and by the original artist. Pretty shitty huh? I can think of a few labels, more specifically TWO that come right to mind, that have been doing that for years. I have no idea how they can sleep at night. At any rate, this record really has no credits at all, except that it’s on Custom and the address: 5810 So. Normandie Ave., Los Angeles, California 90044.

Starting off with a nice open drum break, this slowed down version of Hendrix kinda grows on you. It sounds really, like it was recorded in some dank basement with sub par recording equipment. I can just picture these cats, lights down low, going into the Session flying high on Hendrix and hash, saying: “We can do this.” I swear I hear a bit of a Fiddler on the Roof riff when the first guitar solo kicks in (and I’m not high I swear this time). The boys were definitely going out to impress the Psychedelic kids of 1968. I’m sure the suits at Custom thought that they were gonna grab all these impressionable acid eating kids and sell a ton of records. I doubt that was the case, and today, the reason people lay out some cash for this thing is because it’s got no info on it. I thought that this cover was pretty cool, but I get excited at an open drum break myself. It was more of a novelty, but I figured what the hell, I’ll have an open mind. So here’s another, Something Completely different for Wednesday, and I hope you enjoy it. Keep Diggin’!