A Euphonious Voyage!

It was a meeting of musical, cultural and spiritual paths, a point of enlightenment sometimes discovered with the assistance of a medicinal compass, other times through the mystical literature of Kesey, Huxley and Ginsberg. The point of arrival was the mid-sixties, and once the younger generation finally converged, there was an explosion of energy, color, creativity and sound. This was not a generation that would be identified by a distinctive music style molded for their consumption by a cliche-ridden old guard. These young pied pipers would use their altered states of perception and the drumbeat of revolution and create a sound track that reflected individual trips as opposed to a monolithic journey.

“Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream”

With a “the sky’s the limit” attitude, there was no ceiling to the musical variations explored or the intensity with which they would be exploited. Practitioners of straight pop would use the genre to examine an occasional trippy impulse, while others would focus exclusively on mind-expanding album length head trips. The potpourri of styles tossed together with the new “turned-on” sound made pop-psych a fascinating sub genre rife with flashes of folk, electronic, sunshine pop, raga, soul and rock.

Welcome to your first port of call (link to musical files and PDF cd booklet at bottom of post)...

1) THE KIDS FROM MILLBROOK
After getting “la bota” by the Mexican government in 1964, Timothy Leary and fellow ex-professor Richard Alpert headed back to the US in search of a base for an envisioned LSD training center. By fall of that year, after making the acquaintance of several heirs to the Mellon fortune, they found themselves in Millbrook, NY at the 2000 acre estate of Billy Hitchcock.

Millbrook was envisioned as an intellectual colony for those yearning for spiritual discovery through meditation, multimedia theater, yogic traditions and the ritualistic use of LSD. Proving quickly they meant business, the duo published the highly influential opus The Psychedelic Experience. The facility survived a tumultuous five years of internal drama and external notoriety. Much of the sensationalist reporting from the outside focused on crazed drug parties and the exposure of children to hallucinogens. Eventually, Millbrook was shuttered as a result of persistent raids by assistant district attorney G. Gordon Liddy and the ultimate arrest of Leary. 

THE KIDS FROM MILLBROOK

2) Tin Angel - HEARTS AND FLOWERS
Front man Larry Murray’s roots were in bluegrass when he made the journey west from his native Georgia in 1964. In fact, many of the pop-psych artists had folk roots, which made sense. After all, it was in the coffee houses and beat poet gatherings of New York, and elsewhere, where dog eared copies of Huxley’s The Island and poetry by Allen Ginsberg were being exchanged.
 
Once in LA, Murray adapted his sound to fit the more adventurous surroundings, as evidenced on the Hearts and Flowers debut Now Is The Time. When their second slab of vinyl was released, Murray was in full psychedelic bloom, paying tribute to John Lennon with his majestic opus “Tin Angel, Will You Ever Come Down.” 

Tin Angel

3) Lose Your Mind - THIRD BARDO 
“Lose Your Mind” was recorded during the same one-day session that produced the classic “I’m Five Years Ahead of My Time” (volume three of the Pebbles series). Of the five tracks recorded that day, only “Five Years” made it to vinyl, released in 1967 on Roulette Records (single R-4742). Oozing with Eastern guitar riffs, ominous organ backing and discordant background effects, it’s amazing the record failed to click.

“Lose Your Mind” was every bit as mind-blowing, perhaps more, but sat in the can until 1993 when it was released as part of a four track EP. An alternate, slightly more raw version of “Lose Your Mind” surfaced several years later. The group’s name, chosen by lead singer Jeffrey Monn and extracted from The Tibetan Book of the Dead, refers to a “return to reality”.
 

Lose Your Mind

4) Moondreams - FLEUR DE LYS
Best known for their cover of The Who’s “Circles” (compiled on the Chocolate Soup compilation series), the Fleur De Lys were quite prolific for a band that never made a dent on Billboard’s Top 100. “Moondreams” was produced by Jimmy Page on Andrew Oldham’s Immediate label, and features a slightly hypnotic, vaguely trippy organ accompaniment.

The FDL would go on to also record, albeit briefly, under the name Rupert’s People, releasing “Reflections of Charlie Brown” (originally recorded by Sweet Feeling) in 1967. Sweet Feeling, locked out of the studio by their label for refusing to change their name to Rupert’s People, then relented and replaced the Fleur de Lys on all subsequent Rupert’s People recordings.

At various points in their history they also released discs under the names “Shyster” and “The Chocolate Frog.” By the late 60’s they found themselves as the backup band for South African soul singer Sharon Tandy.

Looking like they've heard this joke 100 times: Les Fleur De Lys

Moondreams

5) Pictures of Matchstick Men - STATUS QUO
Their roots trace back to 1962, when the core of the band recorded as The Specters. A series of unremarkable 45’s were released (often cover versions of popular American hits) until they decided to pick up the psychedelic baton in 1967 and changed their name to The Traffic Jam. After another unsuccessful single, they changed their name, yet again, to The Status Quo.

The Frank Rossi-composed “Pictures”, a highlight of the band’s two year stint as pop psychers, was inspired by the paintings of Laurence Stephen Lowry. Lowry’s popular English works often depicted various environments populated by throngs of people referred to as “matchstick men”. According to Rossi, most of the song was composed while sitting on a toilet, a place where he would often wait until his wife and mother-in-law left the house.

Proving once and for all it's never good to let mum be your wardrobe girl: The Status Quo

Pictures of Matchstick Men

6) Taking Out Time - SPENCER DAVIS GROUP
This song appeared on the Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush soundtrack which included contributions by both The Spencer Davis Group (after Steve Winwood’s departure) and Traffic (after Steve Winwood’s arrival). Traffic’s performance of the title track “Here We Go Round” was actually filmed by The Beatles as they were shooting Magical Mystery Tour, and the clip was originally intended to be a featurette in the psychedelic road trip extravaganza. It was subsequently cut, though included as bonus material on the Magical Mystery Tour DVD. This would be the final pop-psych release by the Spencer Davis Group, their attention turning toward progressive soul, heavy blues and ultimately, unemployment checks.

 

Taking Out Time

7) I Could Hear The Grass Growing - NEW HOBBITS
The New Hobbits were essentially a studio project for songsmith Jimmy Curtis. The New Yorker had previously released a solo record and provided songs to teen idols of the day, before landing a contract with Decca Records in 1967. At Decca, Curtis created the Hobbits, and the band explored an amalgam of sunshine rock and pop-psych that epitomized bands like the Sunshine Company and Peppermint Trolley. They were released from their contract with Decca after two LP’s tanked, at which point Curtis embarked on a solo career as The New Hobbits.

So here is where things get interesting. In 1969, Curtis decided to release an LP under the name The New Hobbits on Perception Records, an imprint known more for jazz and r&b. The label apparently felt the album was lackluster and required some beefing-up, so they approached his old label Decca. Decca, who had a business relationship with Perception, provided them access to a couple songs released by The Fire & Brimstone two years earlier (Decca 32297). The tracks “I Could Hear The Grass Growing” and “Underground” were taken directly from the Decca masters, transferred to Curtis’s new album and credited to The New Hobbits. 

Appearing just groovy enough to appear on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour: The Hobbits

I Could Hear The Grass Growing

8) Men In Black - SKIP BIFFERTY
Newcastle’s The Chosen Few lasted from 1962 -1966. The nucleus went on to become Skip Bifferty, and, aided by manager Don Arden (Sharon Osborne’s father!), they found themselves signed to RCA. A period followed with some pop-psych singles, of which the Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane produced “Men In Black” was the highlight.

The single was released in 1968, having already appeared on their sole, self-titled LP, but even with this stellar track, success remained elusive.  The non-existent chart numbers probably would have resulted in RCA pulling the plug, however it was a confrontation with their manager which lead to the band dissolving. The members would later appear on Island records with the laughable name Heavy Jelly. Not that Skip Bifferty didn’t create a chuckle or two.

Men In Black

9) Who Are The Brain Police - MOTHERS OF INVENTION
The Mothers of Invention evolved from a little know R&B cover band called The Soul Giants. In late 1964, Frank Zappa was asked to replace their lead guitarist, and after doing so, proposed they perform original songs to garner a larger audience. On Mother’s Day 1965, they changed their name to The Mothers, and began honing their unique and iconoclastic approach to music. The following year, while performing the Watts-inspired “Trouble Every Day” (also on Freak Out) , they were noticed by Tony Wilson, a big time African-American record producer. Wilson is credited with getting them a contract on the jazz-oriented Verve label, a home which must have seemed odd, that is until the release of their first record.

The debut album by the band was the double LP titled Freak Out and featured, among other songs, the psychedelic and surrealistic “Who Are the Brain Police”. The track is a perfect calling card for the Mothers, and includes elements of satire, anti-authoritarianism, complex time signatures and a zeal for the outrageous. Indeed, satire, as Zappa would often note, was the primary focus of The Mothers, allowing them to explore other avenues of art (stage and film) with a similar zeitgeist.

Who Are The Brain Police

10) I Am The Walrus - BEATLES
Credited to Lennon-McCartney, “I Am The Walrus” is actually a piece John Lennon cooked up as part of a practical joke on a school professor. As the story goes, an instructor was requiring his students to examine and interpret the lyrics of The Beatles. Somewhat amused by the assignment, Lennon set out to create a purposely obtuse composition filled with oblique references and Dada imagery. 

He pulled together “Walrus” from several sources including: childhood songs (“yellow matter custard”), multiple LSD experiences (“elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna”) and Lewis Carroll’s Walrus & The Carpenter from Through The Looking Glass. The highly orchestrated song suggests a lysergic trip gone bad; featuring disconcerting imagery and a discordant sensory overload of layered sound.

They are the egg men!: The Beatles

I Am The Walrus

11) News Brief - Hippy Invasion

News Brief - Hippy Invasion

12) Paternosta Row - TWILIGHTS 
The Monkees were a huge commodity in Australia, and it only seemed natural that someone in the land-down-under would try to replicate that success. So in 1968, the Seven TV Network, with financial assistance from the Ford Motor Company, decided to create a sitcom titled Once Upon A Twilight. The program was to feature The Twilights - a popular Aussie comedy/musical group of the time. 

Recording quickly commenced to provide musical backup, then Ford let the air out of their tires and withdrew support. Undaunted, they doubled down on their audio effort, producing what many consider to be their crowning achievement. The album, named after the shelved series, featured contributions from all the members with an emphasis on creative experimentation.

“Paternosta Row” was their most inventive stab at pop-psych, with forbidding vocals created by running the audio through Leslie cabinets (a rotating tremolo speaker system used to modify sound, as opposed to reproducing it). While the track, and much of the album, seem to be influenced by hallucinogenics, the band insists the primary creative force was meditation. Regrettably, as with so many of Australia’s pop-psych bands (Master’s Apprentices, Normie Rowe, Hugo), the Twilights were never able to chart in Europe or the US, leading to ambivalence from their record label.

Paternosta Row

13) Suddenly Winter - TREMELOES
The Tremeloes are a perfect example of a band who recorded straight rock and pop hits, while occasionally experimenting with more entertaining and less derivative pop-psych sounds. Often these more adventurous songs would find a home on the B-side of a 45rpm release, as was the case with “Suddenly Winter”, the flip side of 1968’s “Suddenly You Love Me.”

Wanting to maintain their “relevance”, the Tremeloes entered the 1970’s by jumping on the prog-rock bandwagon and utterly repelling their fan base. Thirty years later, their lysergically-tinged tracks were released in a posthumous collection titled What A State I’m In: The Pop Psych Sessions of The Tremeloes.

Fresh from a gig at the local Salvation Army: The Tremeloes

Suddenly Winter

14) Astrologically Incompatible - MUSIC MACHINE
An exhausting tour schedule followed the release of the band’s debut LP Turn On as they promoted their national hit “Talk, Talk.” When 1967 arrived, the group imploded, and manager Brian Ross ushered lead singer Sean Bonniwell over to Warner Brothers for a follow-up. The new entity would be known forthwith as The Bonniwell Music Machine, and feature a darker sound, as evidenced on their new recordings.

“Astrologically Incompatible”, cut by the original line-up, was one of a small handful of tracks brought from previous sessions to pad out the new album. The song reflects Bonniwell’s growing interest in mysticism and fittingly, the work is awash in swirling, effusive keyboards and typical Music Machine pulsating rhythms. With a bit of chagrin, Bonniwell admits to being the trumpet player who contributes some flat notes during the song’s fade-out. 

Astrologically Incompatible

15) Falling Off The Edge of  The World - EASYBEATS
Released in 1968, “Falling” was a definite departure in tone from the mop top buoyancy of “Friday On My Mind”. In addition to the obviously darker veneer, the composition was more ambitious and complex than their Top 40-friendly releases. This change could be chalked up to both external and internal agitations.

One source of turmoil was the alientation they experienced when relocating to London in 1967. In addition to separation anxiety from their Australian homeland, the group had spent a noticeable chunk of time off the charts. Disenchantment, drug use and creative pressures all contributed to the New York recording session which produced this Lou Reed favorite.

Falling Off The Edge Of The Edge The World

16) The Trip - Promo

The Trip

17) Meester Prikkebeen - BOUDEWIJIN DE GROOT
Let it never be said Boudewijin De Groot was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His mother gave birth to him in 1944 while incarcerated in a Japanese concentration camp located in Indonesia. She would spend her remaining life behind bars, passing away months before the prison was liberated.  De Groot and his father returned to their Netherlands home, but just a year later pops was back in Indonesia.

De Groot earned a reputation as a protest singer in the mid-60’s, often using his songs to make social observations. When psychedelia spread across the European frontier, it inspired him and co-writer Lenneart Nijgh to create the pop-psych treat Picknick.

Meester Prikkebeen

18) Now She’s Mine - CRESENDOS
The Cresendos formed in 1965 in Wanganui, NZ, a town located on the southwest coast of the nation’s northern island. Allied Records founder Fred Noad caught the band’s performance at a talent show and signed them to a contract that lead to their sole 1967 single. It has often been noticed how similar Martin Phillips’ (The Chills) musical approach is to this obscure band.

Now She’s Mine

19) Amy Peate - ORANGE BICYCLE
Orange Bicycle began in the early sixties as “Robb Storm & The Whispers”.  As such, they were one of the few rock bands to tour behind the Iron Curtain, and gained a reputation at universities throughout the U.K.

When the pop-psych movement was in vogue, they changed their name to Orange Bicycle and released the Columbia single “Hyacinth Threads” backed by “Amy Peate”. Nine singles followed until 1971, when, pretty late in the game, they released their only LP, The Orange Bicycle. Inexplicably, the album relied on an overabundance of other people’s compositions, including Elton John and Bob Dylan.

No, it's not Four Jacks & A Jill, but an incredible simulation: Orange Bicycle

Amy Peate

20) Wild In The Streets - Promo 

The electric guitars aren't plugged in, but details like that don't matter when you're Wild In The Streets

Wild In The Streets - Promo

21) Just A Fear - ANSWERS
English “beat music” also contributed to the bubbling cauldron of styles that created the changing flavors of pop-psych. Newcastle’s The Answers took their stomping rhythms and wrapped it in a groovy Nehru jacket for their 1966 single on Columbia. “Just A Fear” was written by lead guitarist Tony Hill.

Just A Fear

22) Fallait Pas Fallait Ecraser La Que Du Chat - CLOTHILDE
Élisabeth Beauvais (Clothilde), was the daughter of well know journalist and producer Robert Beauvais and actress Gisèle Parry. By the wee age of eight, at her parents urging, she was dabbling in the recording studio. By the time 1967 rolled around, the 16 year old had become the saucy soup du jour at the top of the French music charts. Her suggestive records, dripping in Austin Powers hipness, were rife with double entendres and upbeat abandon.

Élisabeth’s Svengali of sorts was 19 year old Germinal Tenas, who brought her to Vogue records to perform a suitcase full of his bawdy songs. The rebellious and increasingly unhappy Beauvais submitted to his fashion and song requests, but refused to tour, and eventually became more difficult to coax into the studio. Within a year, she vanished from the radio.

Unable to recall where she left her saucisson et fromage, Clothilde strikes a pose.

Fallait Pas Fallait Ecraser La Que Du Chat

23) Eternal Prison - HUMANE SOCIETY
Months before Tiny Tim puzzled us with his famous rendition of “Tip Toe Through The Tulips”, the Humane Society gave it a go on their Liberty Records debut. Twas not very interesting, but when you turned it over, a far more sinister psych-punk gem was discovered: “Knock, Knock”. Sales were good in LA, but that was about it. The Semi Valley lads were then unceremoniously booted by Liberty and landed on New World a year later with “Eternal Prison”.

Eternal Prison

24) Movie Promo - Skidoo (excerpt)

Tensions ran high during the production of Skidoo; eventually the actors turned on each other

Movie Promo - Skidoo (excerpt)

25) Mantra - STONE COUNTRY
Pop-psych and country-folk proved potent bedfellows for the band Stone Country. Born in Newnan, Georgia, founder Steve Young eventually relocated to Hollywood, California and found himself quickly rubbing shoulders with Stephen Stills and “producer extraordinaire” Van Dyke Parks. Young’s intent was to meld the winsome sounds of country with mild psychedelia when he created his new band.

In 1968, Stone Country released their only LP on RCA records with production assistance from Rick Jarrard. Several singles were released, and while not a popular success, the group’s recordings did receive much acclaim. They were featured in Otto Preminger’s LSD bomb, Skidoo before calling it quits. Young’s subsequent solo work has often been credited as one of the finest early examples of country-rock.

Mantra

26) King Midas In Reverse - THE HOLLIES
The extravagant orchestration of Sgt Pepper predictably opened the door for all the major bands of the time to add strings and wind instruments as icing on their pop- psych confections. “King Midas”, released in September ’67, marks The Hollies foray into this same territory.

Unfortunately, both “King Midas” and the follow-up LP Butterfly both failed to crack the US Top 40, resulting in The Hollies return to innocuous love songs. Graham Nash, the author of “King Midas” and the musician most responsible for the band’s more experimental approach, became disenchanted and left the group the following year.

King Midas In Reverse

27) Frank Zappa For Hagstrom Guitar

Frank Zappa For Hagstrom Guitar

28) Nadie Te Quiere Ya - LOS BRINCOS
When Los Brincos began recording their 1967 album Contrabando, hopes had to be running high that they would soon be big names beyond their Spanish homeland. Ace producer Larry Page (Kinks, Troggs) had agreed to helm their third album at the famed Abbey Road studios with engineer Geoff Emerick, who had worked on both Revolver and Sgt. Peppers for The Beatles.

To bolster the possibility of success, the album featured a mix of tracks in both Spanish and English. In the end, it made little difference. The 1968 release hit the charts with a commercial thud outside of Spain. Both singles from the album “Passport” and “Nadie Te Quiere Ya” likewise failed to chart in either the U.K. or U.S. Since its initial release, the album has attained a strong cult following.

Nadie Te Quiere Ya

29) Michelangelo - 23RD TURNOFF
The band’s name comes from the turnoff that leads to Liverpool on Britain’s highway M6. For most of the decade however, they had been known as The Kirbys, recording tracks here and there, including a sizzling beat stomper called “It’s A Crime”.

In 1967, they changed both moniker and label, joining Deram Records. “Michelangelo” was released in September of that year, several months before “Nights in White Satin” debuted on the same label. This lead some to surmise that the 23rd Turnoff track may have stylistically influenced the Moody Blues. Unfortunately for the band, “Nights” clicked, while the less pompous “Michelangelo” remained a psychedelic footnote.

Michelangelo

30) Castles In The Sky - SIMON DUPREE & THE BIG SOUND
The heart of this six piece band were three musically talented brothers Derek, Phil and Ray Shulman. After an early career performing R&B under various names, the brothers formed Simon Dupree & The Big Sound in 1966 and were signed to Parlophone.

Their initial releases were not in the psychedelic vain, but with prodding from their manager, the group acquiesced and scored with the Top 10 hit “Kites”. Some other pop psych gems followed, including a bizarre 1968 release under the highly cryptic band name “The Moles”.

Castles In The Sky

Euphonious Voyage 1 musical clips and PDF CD booklet are here