Sky Saxon R.I.P

June 25, 2009

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sky Saxon (Richard Marsh), lead singer and founder of the 1960s band the "Seeds," who had a Top 40 hit in 1967 with "Pushin' Too Hard," has died after a brief illness.

Publicist Jen Marchand says Saxon died Thursday but did not have other details. He was in his 60s.

The Seeds sprang up in California, and their garage-band sound with Saxon's distinctive vocals became a favorite of the flower power generation.

Other Seeds singles included "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" and "Mr. Farmer."

Saxon (born Richard Marsh) had recently moved to Austin, where he played with his new band, Shapes Have Fangs.

He had been planning to perform this summer with the California '66 Revue, a tour featuring a lineup of California bands from the 1960s.

The Seeds: Flower Punk - 3 cd set (US)

The Seeds did write two garage rock classics with "Pushin' Too Hard" and "Can't Seem to Make You Mine," but that didn't mean their remaining records were as interesting as that pair of raw, vital rockers. Flower Punk acts otherwise, compiling all of the group's albums onto a triple-disc, book-bound collection. It's a beautifully packaged set and no song is overlooked, yet Flower Punk is only for serious garage rock and Seeds fetishists, since the band rarely ever hit the heights of "Pushin' Too Hard" and "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" again. Indeed, for many listeners, a simple greatest hits collection can sound samey, but over the course of three CDs, it becomes apparent that the Seeds and Sky Saxon were only capable of a few sounds, and you already have to be indoctrinated to find more than a handful of cuts on Flower Punk interesting.

PUSHIN´
TOO
HARD