Psychedelic Jukebox: [1967] The Animated Egg - Sock It My Way

 

When the obscure name The Animated Egg first appeared in the late 1960s, few listeners could have imagined the tangled story behind it. The record credited to this enigmatic “band” was released on the budget label Alshire during the height of the psychedelic craze, but it was not the product of a touring group. Instead, it was the result of carefully crafted studio sessions led by the seasoned Los Angeles guitarist Jerry Cole, who had already played behind The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, and countless others. The record appeared in 1967–68, a time when Alshire was flooding the market with inexpensive LPs meant to ride the wave of cultural fashion. Later investigations clarified Cole’s authorship, turning what once seemed a mystery into a well-documented episode in the story of Los Angeles studio production.

Cole’s presence is confirmed by multiple independent accounts, including archival reconstructions that place him as the creative center of the Animated Egg material. Music journalist Barry Stoller has explained that Cole only came to realize years later how his raw instrumentals had been recycled under different guises, noting in interviews that “we just played those tracks in the studio; what happened with them afterward was out of our hands”.

To understand why these sessions were used in such a way, one has to examine the economics of Alshire and its predecessors. The company evolved from Somerset, a label created by D. L. Miller, who specialized in high-volume, low-price productions distributed widely through supermarkets and discount outlets. As label histories describe, the goal was to maximize catalog size while minimizing recording costs. That meant reusing material wherever possible, and Cole’s blistering instrumentals became prime fodder for such recycling.

Stoller traces how the same session tapes found their way into other outlets. The Animated Egg album included Sock It My Way, but the very same recording was reworked for the 101 Strings album Astro-Sounds From Beyond the Year 2000, released the following year. Collectors and discographers have confirmed that the track retitled Flameout on that 101 Strings LP is in fact Sock It My Way with orchestral overlays. Later, online archivists emphasized that this practice of repackaging was standard in the Alshire empire.

Cole’s pool of recordings also surfaced in other guises. Stoller documented how Custom Records issued albums under names like The Projection Company and T. Swift & The Electric Bag, reusing the same guitar-led instrumentals. The Projection Company’s Give Me Some Lovin’ and T. Swift’s Are You Experienced? are widely acknowledged by collectors as products of the same sessions. Even albums under names like Haircuts & The Impossibles relied on the same material, repurposed to fill out budget releases.

Sock It My Way is among the most striking tracks of the Animated Egg set. It rides a minor-key vamp, with a fierce fuzz guitar line cutting against taut drumming and a locked-in bass pattern. Reviews emphasize the heavy use of reverb and distortion that defined the overall sound of the LP. The production shows hallmarks of late-1960s Los Angeles studio craft, where spring reverb and tremolo effects were layered onto guitar parts to heighten the psychedelic atmosphere. When repurposed as Flameout on Astro-Sounds, lush string parts were overdubbed, transforming the raw instrumental into something resembling a hybrid of garage freak-out and orchestral pop.

The reception of the album has changed over time. Initially treated as another anonymous budget release, later research and reissues now present The Animated Egg as a cult object, sought after by collectors and admired for its striking guitar-driven instrumentals. To reconcile the confusion over its dating, one can note that the sessions themselves were cut in 1967, the Animated Egg LP circulated through Alshire in 1967–68.

Personnel reconstructions suggest that alongside Cole were bassist Glenn Cass and drummer Don Dexter, both figures from the Los Angeles studio scene. Reissue notes and retailer blurbs highlight these associations, further legitimizing the link to Cole. Reflecting years later, Cole summarized his attitude to these sessions: “We just cut those tracks, and they took on a life of their own. I never knew they would end up with strings on top, or under so many different names.”

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Sources:

1. https://musicbrainz.org/release/e1672045-5c3e-40af-ac23-7bcfd6b3a5bd
2. https://www.bsnpubs.com/alshire/alshire.pdf
3. https://theseconddisc.com/2018/03/28/sounds-from-beyond-cherry-red-collects-psych-pop-rock-and-the-101-strings-on-new-box-set
4. https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/9489
5. https://hoerspielforscher.de/kartei/musik
6. https://theanimatedegg.bandcamp.com/track/sock-it-my-way
7. https://soundcloud.com/theanimatedegg/sock-it-my-way
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkbdeivvBZI
9. https://crownrecordsstory.wordpress.com/2017/06/04/animated-egg-is-jerry-cole
10. https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-animated-egg-mw0000856999
11. https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2018/03/i-said-she-said-ah-cid-exploito-world.html
12. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-animated-egg-mn0001530857
13. https://www.popmatters.com/060220-astrosounds-2496104391.html
14. https://www.spaceagepop.com/millerdl.htm
15. https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/96940
16. https://psychedelicized.com/playlist/a/the-animated-egg
17. https://fleamarketfunk.com/2009/10/14/t-swift-and-the-electric-bag-are-you-experienced
18. https://www.discogs.com/release/2536614-The-Projection-Company-Give-Me-Some-Lovin
19. https://acerecords.co.uk/hot-rod-twangin-the-1960s-crown-recordings