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James Lowe, singer of psychedelic rock trailblazers the Electric Prunes, dies age 82

The band’s early single I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) was their biggest hit, featuring on the compilation Nuggets, and has influenced generations of musicians

The band’s name started as a joke and they had a short-lived, tumultuous existence, with Lowe later admitting that they were learning to play their instruments as they went along, with one significant early woodshedding session taking place at the house of Leon Russell. Members came and went, a David Axelrod-produced album of psychedelic pop and Gregorian music flopped and inspired a disastrous live performance, and producer and engineer Dave Hassinger’s rights to the name allowed him to reassemble the band at will. Take away the profit motive and all that greed and you get back to trying to make a good record … it’s very hard.” Of the Electric Prunes’ brief existence, he said: “Some things are meant to be short and sweet.

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