The Rock Machine Turns You On was the first bargain priced sampler album. The Rock Machine marketing campaign was initiated in the US in January 1968, by CBS's American parent, Columbia Records, under its president Clive Davis. The campaign was intended as a promotion for its expanding roster of rock and folk rock acts, who included Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, Moby Grape, Spirit, Taj Mahal, and Blood, Sweat And Tears.
As part of its highly successful campaign, CBS Records released 'The Rock Machine Turns You On' in the UK in 1968. The album was priced at 14 shillings and 11 pence (£0.75), less than half the cost of a full priced LP at the time. It entered the UK Albums Chart in June 1969, several months after its first release, rising to no. 18, and was estimated to have sold over 140,000 copies.[1]
'The Rock Machine Turns You On' influenced a generation of music fans. At the time, what was then called "underground music" was starting to achieve some commercial success in Europe, bolstered by new radio and TV programmes such as John Peel's Top Gear. CBS competed actively for this new market against other “progressive” labels such as Elektra, Island, Immediate, and the EMI subsidiary Harvest, who followed with similar samplers of their acts. Although some of the featured artists were already stars, others such as Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal and Spirit were only starting to become known in Europe, and the album made a major contribution to their success.
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Tracklisting[]
(All source albums released by Columbia / CBS / Epic.)
(* = track played by Peel, ** = LP played by Peel. See artist pages for further details from available show playlists.)
- Side 1
Leonard Cohen Sisters of Mercy
- Bob Dylan: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (from LP - John Wesley Harding) * **
- Moby Grape: Can't Be So Bad (LP - Wow) * **
- Spirit: Fresh Garbage (LP - Spirit) * **
- United States Of America: I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar (LP - The United States of America) **
- Zombies: Time Of The Season (LP - Odessey And Oracle) *
- Peanut Butter Conspiracy: Turn On A Friend (LP - The Great Conspiracy) **
- Leonard Cohen: Sisters Of Mercy (LP - The Songs of Leonard Cohen) * **
- Side 2
The Rock Machine Turns You On Vinyl Record Compilation - Statesborough Blues Taj Mahal Vinyl Record
- Blood, Sweat And Tears: My Days Are Numbered (LP - Child Is Father To The Man)
- Byrds: Dolphins Smile (LP - The Notorious Byrd Brothers) **
- Simon and Garfunkel: Scarborough Fair / Canticle (LP - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme) **
- Taj Mahal: Statesboro Blues (LP - Taj Mahal) * **
- Electric Flag: Killing Floor (LP - A Long Time Comin') * **
- Roy Harper: Nobody’s Got Any Money In The Summer (LP - Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith) * **[1]
- Tim Rose: Come Away Melinda (LP - Tim Rose) * **
- Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera: Flames (LP - Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera) * **
Links To Peel[]
Peel mentioned with approval the "Rock Machine" promotional campaign and related LPs in his column for International Times on 14 June 1968:
"The CBS Rock Machine Turns You On’ sounds rather ominous but the campaign worked well in America so they’re trying it here. There are 15 LPs involved as components of the Rock Machine and they are almost all good. I can’t remember all of them but some are already available such as Roy Harper’s and Dylan’s. Also included is the Zombies, which is very good indeed, as is the Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera record. From what’s left of America are such things as the Taj Mahal, the Spirit, the United States Of America (very good), ‘The Notorious Byrd Brothers’, Tim Rose (already released), the Peanut Butter Conspiracy, the Electric Flag (disappointing generally), Blood, Sweat And Tears (already disbanded and so disjointed as to be distracting), the new Moby Grape, which is very good, Leonard Cohen (already released and so beautiful) and finally for some obscure reason 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme’ which is over a year old now but nevertheless essential."[2]
Many of the CBS artists and albums were featured on the DJ's Top Gear radio show, including in session, although he is not known to have played tracks directly from the best-selling budget sampler LP. The Leonard Cohen contribution, 'Sisters Of Mercy' later appeared in the Peelenium 1966, despite not being released (on Cohen's debut LP) until two years later.