Title
This Is Psychedelia
Subtitle
Over 3 Hours Of Mind-Expanding Acid Rock
Artist
Various Format: CD
Cat. No.: METRTCD827
Barcode: 698458332721
Playing Time: 171 minutes
This Is Psycedelia takes in great 60s innovators from Jefferson Airplane and Marc Bolan to the 13th Floor Elevators and The Orange Seaweed and traces their influence on the best of their UK contemporaries, both celebrated and neglected. This compilation draws from popular tracks and artists from the most experimental music period in history.
Track List 1 Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
2 Small Faces - Itchycoo Park
3 Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense And Peppermints
4 The Yardbirds - Shapes Of Things
5 The Mooche - Hot Smoke & Sassafrass
6 The Byrds - Eight Miles High
7 The Purple Gang - Granny Takes A Trip
8 The 13th Floor Elevators - Slip Inside This House
9 Status Quo - Pictures Of Matchstick Men
10 The Velvet Underground & Nico - Venus In Furs
11 The Glass Menagerie - She's A Rainbow
12 Kaleidoscope - Keep Your Mind Open
13 Fleur De Lys - Circles
14 Velvett Fogg - Yellow Cave Woman
15 H.P. Lovecraft - Electrallentando
1 Spirit - Fresh Garbage
2 Eric Burdon & The Animals - Sky Pilot
3 Kenny Rogers & The First Edition - Just Dropped In (To See What .....)
4 Honeybus - Under The Silen Tree
5 Moby Grape - Hey Grandma
6 Marc Bolan - Misfit
7 Blonde on Blonde - Spinning Wheel
8 Kak - Lemonaide Kid
9 Nirvana - Rainbow Chaser
10 Peter Thorogood - Haunted
11 West Coast Consortioum - Colour Sergeant Lillywhite
12 The Orange Machine - Real Life Permanent Dream
13 The Poets - Locked In A Room
14 Man - Sudden Life
15 Status Quo - Mr Mind Detector
16 The Onyx - Tamaris Khan
1 It's A Beautiful Day - White Bird
2 The Nice - Flower King Of Flies
3 The Youngbloods - Darkness, Darkness
4 Small Faces - Long Agos And Worlds Apart
5 The Blues Magoos - (We Ain't Got) Nothin Yet
6 Status Quo - You're Just What I Was Looking For Today
7 The Smoke - My Friend Jack
8 The Searchers - Crazy Dreams
9 The Orange Seaweed - Pictures In The Sky
10 Pussy - The Open Ground
11 The Bystanders - Cave Of Clear Light
12 Nico - Little Sister
13 Episode Six - I Can See Through You
14 The Rockin' Berries - Yellow Rainbow
15 The New Formula - Stay Indoors
16 The Tremeloes - Suddenly Winter
“You can’t record an LSD trip”, Rolling Stone said of Jefferson Airplane’s 1968 “After Bathing At Baxters” album, an aural attempt to reproduce the hallucinogenic experience. As demonstrated here however, the fashion for acid inspired the music categorised as psychedelia which initially flourished in San Francisco in 1966 but soon spread across America and to the UK, with new bands everywhere from Stockport to Dagenham, Cornwall to Glasgow. Timothy Leary coined the phrase “Turn on, tune in, drop out” in the 60s but Aldous Huxley’s 1954 book “The Doors Of Perception” predated him in its advocacy of mescaline. Psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond replied to Huxley two years later with “to fathom Hell or soar angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic.”
This collection opens with an earlier Jefferson Airplane track, Grace Slick’s seminal “White Rabbit”, which the charismatic vocalist brought with her from her previous band the Great Society. A thinly disguised drug song inspired by Alice In Wonderland, it featured on 1967’s “Surrealistic Pillow” album and did much to introduce the mainstream to psychedelic rock. At the same time Strawberry Alarm Clock adapted their punkish style exemplified by the single “The Birdman Of Alcatraz” towards newly fashionable weirdness with the Frank Slay-produced B-side “Incense & Peppermints”. A year ahead of schedule, in May 1966, the Byrds released “Eight Miles High”, one of the first songs to be banned for its drugs allusions and musically influenced by both Indian ragas and the atonal sound of John Coltrane, an imaginative shift away from Roger McGuinn’s previous hits. Rocky Erickson’s Thirteenth Floor Elevators originally played garage rock in Texas in 1965 but moved to San Francisco to use the leader’s trippy lyrics to good effect on this song, later covered by Primal Scream, from their second album, 1967’s “Easter Everywhere”.
Across the pond, English bands were also changing as the Small Faces’ soul/R&B sound of “All Or Nothing” gave way to the archetypal psychedelia of “Itchycoo Park”, their only American success which remains a landmark recording. Chicago blues first informed the Eric Clapton-era Yardbirds of the early 60s, but this developed into 1965 chart successes, with the guitar hero quitting in protest at commercialism; Jeff Beck took over, and his electronic innovations produced the enduring “Shapes Of Things”. Francis Rossi’s Status Quo played British beat before turning to psychedelia in 1967 with “Almost But Not Quite There”, a precursor to the massive success of the following year’s “Pictures Of Matchstick Men”, marked by distorted guitar and semi-surrealistic lyrics. Less celebrated but worthy English bands of the psychedelic era (approximately1966-69) include East Anglia’s the Mooche, whose 1969 single “Hot Smoke And Sassafras” was skilfully performed by singer Brian Tatum, an ex-R&B artist who had played with the Pretty Things’ Phil May. The Purple Gang hailed from Stockport and their predictably banned “Granny Takes A Trip” became a favourite anthem at UFO, an underground HQ; produced by Joe Boyd, it was really an innocent jugband-style record. Tennessee Williams’ play gave Lancashire’s Glass Menagerie their name and they debuted in 1968 with a cover of “She’s A Rainbow”, a highlight of the Rolling Stones’ patchy response to Sgt. Pepper with their druggy album “Their Satanic Majesties Request”. Fleur de Lys excelled themselves with song titles like “Gong With The Luminous Nose” but their version of the Who’s “Circles” was well realized with fluid guitar and bass-playing by Gordon Haskell. Keith Law wrote “Yellow Cave Woman” for Velvett Fogg, an organ-dominated band whose album also included their take on Joe Meek’s “Telstar”.
New York produced Lou Reed’s more earthy vision enhanced by the Warhol screenprint on the cover of their fabled first album, which included contributions from doomy chanteuse Nico and compelling viola playing by John Cale on “Venus In Furs”. The Velvet Underground’s influence proved incalculable unlike the unfortunate Kaleidoscope, whose eclectic blend of blues, country, Eastern music and R&B led by the brilliant instrumentalist David Lindley deserved greater recognition. CD1 closes with the haunting sound of H.P.Lovecraft, named after the gothic writer who inspired their literate approach and covers of intelligent songs by Fred Neil and Randy Newman.
The Rising Sons notably included Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal but also veteran drummer Ed Cassidy, soon a member of the revered Spirit and later stepfather of the band’s Hendrix-inspired guitarist Randy California. Their strange hybrid of jazz/rock was impressively demonstrated on their eponymous first album on which “Fresh Garbage” appeared, and also on their masterpiece “The Twelve Dreams Of Dr.Sardonicus”. Far removed from his native Newcastle’s blues roots with the Animals, Eric Burdon became almost an honorary Californian in style as his psychedelic band’s 1968 hit “Sky Pilot” followed the previous year’s “San Franciscan Nights” into the charts. Kenny Rogers and Mike Settle left folkies the New Christy Minstrels to form the First Edition and quickly scored with Mickey Newbury’s hippyish “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In”) ; Rogers followed up with “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town” before his long commercial career in crossover country/pop. From a contrasting lineage, Moby Grape and Kak both preferred structured songs to Grateful Dead-type extended jams, as troubled ex-Jefferson Airplane member Skip Spence and Jerry Miller’s disciplined lead guitar on Grape’s self-titled album contributed much to its subsequent stellar status. They fell apart rapidly but exerted a considerable influence on Dehner Patten and Gary Lee Yoder’s Kak, while lasting only a little longer creatively than the latter’s one album featuring the wistful “Lemonade Kid”, recently used on a television advert by BT.
Reverting to British psychedelia, Honeybus were originally strongly reminiscent of Rubber Soul-era Beatles, scoring a 1968 chart hit with the tuneful ballad “I Can’t Let Maggie Go”, but two years later made the album “Story”. This allowed Ray Cane to steer them away from conventional pop into the more curious territory of “Under The Silent Tree”. Marc Bolan took the opposite direction, starting out in leftfield before his early 70s heyday as a teen idol pop star, and “Misfit” was an early piece from the mid 60s, released as a single together with the aptly titled “Hippy Gumbo”. He joined Andy Ellison in John’s Children and Steve Peregrine Took in Tyrannosaurus Rex before leaving Flower Power behind with Mickey Finn in T.Rex. Gareth Johnson wrote “Spinning Wheel” for Welsh band Blonde On Blonde and created an interesting blend of folky vocals, fuzzy sitar and an introduction combining classical piano with a string background; unsurprisingly, they covered the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby”. Their compatriots Man were actually the most famous rock band ever to come out of Wales, though their music had more to do with the Bay Area where they enjoyed a cult following. Also popular in England and Germany, the spacey “Sudden Life” appeared on their first album “Revelation”. It was the second release by the gently melodic Nirvana, the whimsically moody “All Of Us” which produced the British band’s mostly fondly recalled track “Rainbow Chaser”. It was harmony singing which most clearly attracted West Coast Consortium as they covered hits by the Four Seasons and the Beach Boys, and “Colour Sargeant Lillywhite” benefited from Robbie Fair’s strong vocal allied to phased guitars to produce this classic of UK psychedelia from 1968. Danny Hughes led Orange Machine as an alumnus of the local 60s scene, and this Moody Blues-esque song was the B-side to “Three Jolly Little Dwarfs”, a lyrical companion piece to their “Dr.Crippen’s Waiting Room”. The more obscure Peter Thorogood was nevertheless sufficiently talented to play all the instruments on another 1968 single, Howard Blaikley’s “Haunted”, before deserting recording for bucolic Herefordshire. From the more bracing environment of Glasgow came the Zombies-like Scottish band the Poets, an accomplished outfit who sufficiently impressed Rolling Stones manager Andrew Oldham to sign them for Decca, although their quality material failed to build on the impact of their first single. Psychedelia was spreading everywhere however, and the Eastern sound of Cornwall’s the Onyx’s third single “Tamaris Khan” was typical for a band which attempted “A Day In The Life” and “Good Vibrations”. Elsewhere, in south London, Status Quo’s lengthy pre-boogie band period was yielding gems like “Mr. Mind Detector” with its distorted vocal and fuzz guitar intro typical of 1969’s “Spare Parts” album.
CD3 begins with the pensive, six-minute track “White Bird” which opened the 1969 album of the same name by It’s A Beautiful Day, once described as “a hippy dance band”. Keyboards player Linda LaFlamme teamed up in this adventurous group with husband David, not only a singer but an instrumentalist versatile enough to play violin for both the Utah Symphony Orchestra and the humorous country-based Dan Hicks & his Hot Licks. The Youngbloods too sometimes indulged in Lovin’ Spoonful-type goodtime music as leaders Jesse Colin Young and Jerry Corbitt adapted their melodic folk-based sound after migrating to the West Coast from their New York origins. Young worked with John Sebastian and enjoyed moderate success with laidback 70s solo efforts in mellow country/rock vein.
“Flower King Of Flies” was written by England’s Keith Emerson and Lee Jackson for the Nice, originally soul singer P.P.Arnold’s backing group before swerving away dramatically with this track from their debut album “The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack”, preceding their flamboyant hit version of Leonard Bernstein’s “America” in 1968. The more reserved keyboards artist Ian McLagan wrote “Long Agos And Worlds Apart” for his band the Small Faces, and it featured strongly on their immortal “Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake”. Steve Marriott used an audaciously exaggerated Cockney accent for their hit “Lazy Sunday” from the celebrated 1968 album which also employed the decidedly non-psychedelic figure of Stanley Unwin. “You’re Just What I Was Looking For Today” was a Goffin/King composition also recorded by the Everly Brothers and Them in dreamy manner quite similar to the treatment given it here by Status Quo, another of their more thoughtful 1969 recordings. Another distinguished songwriting team, Lou Reed and John Cale, contribute “Little Sister” from their Velvet Underground collaborator Nico’s illustrious 1967 album “Chelsea Girl” featuring the singer’s muse of the time, the young Jackson Browne. A variant on the nascent psychedelic template came from the Blues Magoos’ “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet”, as this garage-style quintet from the Bronx put a more aggressive spin on the form, using their then sixteen year-old guitarist Emil Thielheim to spearhead this hit which preceded a less startlingly titled album, “Psychedelic Lollipop”.
More curios follow, including UK acts like the Chris Blackwell-managed the Smoke, who enjoyed the notoriety of a BBC ban for drug references on the catchy “My Friend Jack”, and Orange Seaweed, taking their name from a vision of Hastings beach and making a splash with 1968’s “Pictures In The Sky”. Pussy’s “The Open Ground” was featured on the 1969 album “Pussy Plays” by this British band previously known as We Shake Milk, while the Bystanders’ “Cave Of Clear Light” was the B-side of their version of “Jesamine”, the rather fey song which hit for the Casuals in 1968; the band then notably recruited guitarist Deke Leonard and changed their name to Man. Episode Six included bassist Roger Glover and singer Ian Gillan before they joined Deep Purple, and Glover wrote “I Can See Through You” in a reflective vein far distant from he and Gillan’s subsequent work. The New Formula covered “Hare Krishna” from the musical “Hair” but the B-side “Stay Indoors” was a more complex record with a delicate mix of guitar and flute.
The dominance of psychedelia in the late 60s is illustrated by the final three selections, all clear attempts to record in the genre by bands more associated with straight pop. The Searchers rivalled the Beatles in the charts in 1963/64 but never progressed to writing their own material consistently enough, although Mike Pender and John McNally did produce 1967’s “Crazy Dreams” in contrast to the style of their earlier hit cover versions. Even Birmingham’s Rockin’ Berries made a psychedelic record with “Yellow Rainbow”, which had none of the lightness or cabaret comedy which was their standard fare. We close with Dagenham’s Tremeloes, initially led by vocalist Brian Poole and infamously preferred to the Beatles in a 1962 Decca audition. Poole left but the band enjoyed a run of tuneful pop hits, while also recording this unusual B-side, “Suddenly Winter”, which featured Rick West’s fuzztone guitar.
Neil Kellas
|
