“Pushin’ Too Hard” / “Try To Understand”

When "Pushin' Too Hard" climbed into the Top 40 in America, The Seeds’ label Crescendo smelled blood and started licensing the single to various labels all around the world. One of the first was the United States’ friendly neighbor to the north, Canada.

Like most (but not all!) such outside-America releases, the Canadian version was the same as the homegrown one, pairing "Pushin' Too Hard" with "Try To Understand" on the flip side. The label uses the “rectangles and ovals” version of GNP Crescendo’s logo and is printed with silver writing on a crimson red background. It even sports the same catalog number, GNP 372.

The single was actually issued in conjunction with the Compo Company Ltd., a label with Canadian roots that went all the way back to 1918. It had begun as a vehicle for releasing American music up north, and though it had changed hands and focus over the years, was still serving that purpose (at least for The Seeds) as of this release, which was most likely in late 1966 or early 1967. Compo was based in Lachine, an arrondissement of Montreal. It was purchased by Decca in 1951, which in turn was purchased by MCA in 1970, which later became Universal Music Canada.

On the A-side "Pushin' Too Hard", the artist is given as “THE SEEDS (Featuring Sky Saxon)”; the debut album The Seeds is also mentioned as the source of the song. The B-side "Try To Understand" is a little different; the album credit is the same but the artist reads simply “THE SEEDS” – but a new blurb says “Produced by Sky Saxon and Jimmy Maddin”. This is all a little different than the US release, which also includes that producer credit on the B-side only but “features” Sky Saxon on both sides.

Sound Quality of the Canadian “Pushin’ Too Hard” / “Try To Understand” Single

The sound on this 45 (at least my copy) is a bit pinched and thin, but there is a certain clarity to it. Much less spacious than some other pressings (especially modern CD releases), the itchy, trebly sound might enhance the slicing, snotty feel of the songs.

In the opening seconds of "Try To Understand", as Jan Savage squeezes out the three distorted guitar chords that crunch the song into existence, there is a slight but just noticeable warble. Maybe the tape sent off to Compo in Montreal had a glitch in it, or something went awry in the pressing process. GNP Crescendo generally insisted on good quality control when they put their name on something, but here fate let them down.

No matter though; it’s barely detectable and the rest of the song, to these ears, plays fine.

This Canadian single was released without a picture sleeve. It’s a bit rarer than the US version, but can still be found cheaply for collectors interested in completing their range of "Pushin' Too Hard" singles, or their range of Canadian Seeds singles (there were a few others as well).

At any rate, it’s always fun to listen to The Seeds on exotic and collectible foreign releases. Très bon, eh!

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