Monocled Alchemist

Psychedelic group in focus | Fragments

THE FANTASTIC ZOO – ’Midnight Snack’/’This Calls For A Celebration’ (Double Shot 105) November 1966

When The Fogcutters from Denver, Colorado relocated to Los Angeles sometime during 1966 they got a deal with the fledgling Hollywood label Double Shot who had just scored a big hit with ’Psychotic Reaction’ by The Count Five.

But for some insane reason ’Midnight Snack’ was deemed the potential hit and was thus The Fantastic Zoo’s debut A-Side. The song is tedious after a couple of listens, pretty much a Lovin’ Spoonful influenced novelty.

Far superior is the flip ’This Calls For A Celebration’ which perfectly encapsulates L.A folk rock merging with the new sound of psychedelia.

Los Angeles Psychedelic Scene

However, the second and final Fantastic Zoo 45, the ultra trippy, ’Light Show’ was released in early February 1967 but appears to have sank.

For every 500 copies of ’Silent Movies’ you’ll be lucky to find a copy of ’Light Show’ – it’s a very scarce record to locate suggesting few copies were manufactured.

Eric Karl wound up in Bodine who recorded an album for MGM. He wrote the majority of the songs on that long player.

Hopefully someone will get in touch about The Fogcutters and The Fantastic Zoo as they appear to have an intriguing history.

The Fantastic Zoo – ’Light Show’/’Silent Movies’ (Double Shot 109) February 1967

The Fogcutters, a popular group from Denver, Colorado, cut some singles that did some action locally then sometime in 1966 the group relocated to Los Angeles or perhaps only members Don Cameron and Eric Karl and renamed themselves The Fantastic Zoo.

Fragments | The Fantastic Zoo Jukebox (4 songs)

What is known is that veteran L.A. producers Hal Winn and Joseph Hooven produced all of The Fogcutters sides. Perhaps they persuaded the group to sign for their newly formed Hollywood label Double Shot.

The first Fantastic Zoo record released in December 1966, was the small L.A. hit and novelty ’Midnight Snack’, although the far superior side is the psychedelic folk of ’This Calls For A Celebration’ on the flip.

By now the small independent record label had a huge national hit on their roster with ’Psychotic Reaction’ by The Count Five so I’m sure Hooven and Winn were focusing all of their efforts on this.