Set Your Psychedelic Sails For. . . Euphonious Voyage II: Ecclectic Boogaloo!

A perceptive friend once told me that great rock ‘n’ roll was inevitably about one of three things: sex, magic, or both. Perhaps this partially explains why pop-psych has continued to enchant listeners through the years. It was the unique cultivation of young rock’s vibrant sexual rhythms cross-pollinated with lysergic mysticism.

By the early 60’s, rock had slipped into a vapid post-Elvis squalor. The radio was rife with balladeers and lightweight pop crooners until The Beatles appeared in 1964. Almost instantaneously, the Fab Four sparked an explosion of garage bands the world over. What inspired the young garage rebels in most cases was not the music, but the droves of screaming girls that panted after the British invaders. The sexual component was laid.

“Lost  In  Scenes  Of  Smoke-Filled  Dreams. . .  Find  Questions,  But  No  Answers”

A couple years later, John Lennon would pick up a copy of Timothy Leary’s The Psychedelic Experience, and become captivated by Eastern philosophy and the LSD sacrament. The Beatles’ Revolver became a showcase for his interests, and the record was utilized as a magical pathway for thousands of musicians who took their first trips. Revolver popularized the new hybrid of psychedelia and pop/rock, and like Leary, opened doors to a brave new world. The magic was now in the mix.

And now, your ports of call (link to musical files and pdf cd booklet at bottom of post)...


1) The Living Eye Club - RADIO PROMO

Before their small, but fiercely loyal fan club of two, The Sixpentz perform at The Living Eye

The Living Eye Club

2) Daily Nightly - THE MONKEES
After releasing their first real album as a musical group (Headquarters), The Monkees realized they could not possibly devote time to both acting and music without assistance. So former Turtle Chip Douglas was asked to remain in the producer chair and guide them through their next LP Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, LTD.

Due to time constraints, Douglas would shepherd the band into the studio as needed; either as individuals or in various pairings. He also added to the mix many of the professional musicians who previously appeared on the first Monkees albums. This time however, unlike those early LPs, the band contributed many of their own compositions. This was composed by Nesmith.

Psychedelia in glorious black and white

Daily Nightly

3) Sun - MARGO GURYAN
Who is Margo Guryan? No doubt that was a question asked with frequency when her album Take A Picture hit the racks in 1968. However, had listeners checked the writing credits on Spanky & Our Gang’s “Sunday Morning”  as well as hits recorded by Mama Cass, Oliver, and others, they would have already been well aware of this talented artist.

More amazing is how the infectious treasure went unnoticed for years. It certainly couldn’t have helped sales when she refused to tour. The limited promotion afforded by her label Bell Records may have also contributed to dismal returns. Not that it mattered all that much to Guryan. Her works continued to be recorded by the likes of Harry Nilsson, Julie London and Glen Campbell... and publishing is where the cash cow grazed.

Sun

4) Pink, Purple, Yellow & Red - THE SORROWS
The Sorrows were one of the U.K.’s first practitioners of the stomping R&B rhythms which eventually came to be identified as “freakbeat”. They released a number of records from 1964 - 1966 along this stylistic vein, never attaining the success of their peers. In 1966, after losing their lead vocalist Don Fardon, the band gravitated toward a more pop-psych vein. “Pink, Purple, Yellow & Red” came out in 1967, recalling the sound of fellow Brits The Creation.

An interesting side note: Fardon would strike gold two years later with his solo version of “Indian Reservation”. That song, of course, made its way to our shores in 1971 when interpreted by Paul Revere & The Raiders.

Pink, Purple, Yellow & Red

5) Flight From Ashiya - KALEIDOSCOPE
The nucleus of this English band formed in 1964, eventually evolving into The Kaleidoscope at the dawn of 1967. Most of the tracks were written by guitarist Eddy Pumer and vocalist Peter Daltrey. While garnering little attention at the time, their LP's Tangerine Dream & Faintley Blowing are among the strongest and consistently satisfying records of the pop-psych genre. Their first amazing single, “Flight From Ashiya”, is about a pending airplane crash and was released in September of 1967.

Flight From Ashiya

6) Ar Vrea Un Eschimos - PHOENIX
Phoenix was formed in Romania around 1962 and has been immensely popular ever since, selling some ten million records in their homeland. They navigated numerous musical terrains along with regime changes and are reportedly still performing. The group performed nationally throughout ‘65 and ‘66, embarking on a European tour the following year. When they returned home, they recorded a couple of EP’s, the second of which contained this pop-psych gem upon release in 1969.

Ar Vrea Un Eschimos

7) Love’s Fatal Way - SAGITTARIUS
Gary Usher began his career primarily as a musician, but gained a reputation more for his accomplished production work. He broke into the business with a slew of surf 45’s, recording many songs on his own, and releasing them under fictitious band names. By 1966, he would turn his attention increasingly toward pop-psych.

Besides producing for Chad & Jeremy, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, and The Byrds, Usher pursued vanity projects including Sagittarius. Like his early surf-oriented work, Sagittarius was primarily a studio project centering on Usher, though he did receive assistance from Curt Boettcher and members of Millennium. “Love’s Fatal Way”, a Boettcher composition, was considered for the debut release Present Tense, but was regrettably shelved.

Gary Usher & TV's Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid): Separated at birth?

Love’s Fatal Way

8) Love Psalm - STONE COUNTRY
“Love Psalm” is the opening track of Stone Country’s self-titled album, and perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the long player. Producer Rick Jarred, who worked on Nilsson’s projects at the time, channels the band’s blue grass picking through a prism of Eastern-influenced psychedelia. It really is among the best country-influenced pop-psych jewels of the time.

Love Psalm

9) LSD, A Documentary Report (excerpt)

LSD, A Documentary Report (excerpt)

10) Dr. Doom - 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS
The impact of the 13th Floor Elevators on pop-psych music can not be underestimated. While Revolver popularized the genre, The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators set pop-psych free, creating a multi-tentacled beast that impacted a slew of artists both then and now. It can be safely said that the 13th Floor Elevators laid the groundwork for Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow, an album which clearly used the Elevators debut as a voyeuristic template. The unruly Texans also set the bar for documenting LSD experimentation through music; using folk, blues, rock and pop (sometimes simultaneously) as a soundtrack to their lysergic travels and philosophy.

Bull In The Woods was the band’s third and last vinyl release, a bittersweet swan song reflecting the dissolution of the group. By this point, lead singer Roky Erickson’s mental state had deteriorated and cofounder Tommy Hall’s erratic acid-induced behavior (he is still an avid devotee of the drug) had taken him out of the picture as well. Guitarist Stacy Southerland was able to get Erickson to participate on a few tracks, notably, the enjoyable “Dr. Doom”.

Dr. Doom

11) Bluebell Wood - WIMPLE WINCH
Wimple Winch found their way into the pop-psych collective conscience well after they had disbanded. During their brief, but proficient, lifetime in the mid-60’s, they remained largely unknown outside their base of Liverpool.

Like many of the time, they began as a Mersybeat outfit (with the notably unimaginative name "Just Four Men"). Sometime in early 1966, apparently not having learned their lesson, they adopted the even more unflattering monicker Wimple Winch. After releasing a couple singles that went nowhere for Fontana, they dissolved in 1967, leaving behind a huge treasure trove of unreleased material.

After being sacked by Fontana Records, the members of Wimple Winch show off their new living quarters

Bluebell Wood

12) In Your Tower - THE POETS
1967 saw the demise of Scotland’s The Poets, but not before they released one final single on the Decca label. “Wooden Spoon”, written by producer Eric Woolfson, was released as the A-side against the band’s wishes, but there was little they could do. At this point all of the original members had departed the group for various reasons, and interest outside Scotland was waning.

The flip side of the single was the original composition “In Your Tower”, featuring a raga beat backed by a low-end drone and flute. They own the dubious honor of having one of their songs appear on the soundtrack for the celluloid turkey Frankenstein Meets The Space Monster.

At the forefront of the checkered pants craze: The Poets

In Your Tower

13) Tomorrow Never Knows - THE BEATLES
A Ringo Starr malapropism, a heavy dose of Timothy Leary’s The Psychedelic Experience, and a fascination with Indian music all contributed to John Lennon’s masterpiece “Tomorrow Never Knows”. While the song’s cryptic message may appear dark to many, the essential focus of the composition is self-realization and meditation. George Harrison refelcts, “Basically it is saying what meditation is all about. The goal of meditation is to go beyond (that is, transcend) waking, sleeping and dreaming. So the song starts out by saying, ‘Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream, it is not dying.’”

Tomorrow Never Knows

14) Green Circles - TWICE AS MUCH
Dave Skinner and Andrew Rose were already a successful song writing duo when recording under the alter-ego The Twice As Much. Their compositions were recorded by Del Shannon, Chris Farlowe and others, but they are now remembered (and sometimes maligned) for the relentlessly chipper pop-psych orchestrations they produced while at Immediate Records.

During their three or so years, Twice As Much hit the British charts only once with a cover of the Rolling Stones song “Sittin’ On A Fence.” Lack of success aside, they remain important for helping launch the career of Indian folk artist Vashti Bunyan, who is featured prominently on their second LP That’s All.

Green Circles

15) Nature - THE FOURMYULA
For me, it’s rather difficult to find many examples of outstanding pop-psych released after 1968, particularly on the domestic front. By 1969, rock music had grown self-consciously “serious”. Add Altamont, Woodstock and Manson to the mix, and everything seemed dark and lethargic, like a lumbering Lovecraft beast.

Overseas however, there were still mystical islands of gorgeous pop-psych; literally, in the case of New Zealand. Note the majikal tones of The Fourmyula from Hutt. “Nature” is a joyous tab of sunshine that rivals the best established artists from the U.K. and United States.

A wildly enthusiastic audience responds to The Fourmyula's latest single

Nature

16) The New Messiah Is Coming In 1985 - HAPSHASH & THE COLOURED COAT
England’s grooviest posters often came from the creative offices of Michael English and Nigel Waymouth, alternately know as Hapshash & The Coloured Coat. It was their fortuitous friendship with the owners of the chic psychedelic club UFO which launched their graphic career. The music venue provided them with a perfect outlet for their lysergic designs.

English and Waymouth also recorded a couple LP’s which are credited with having influenced everyone from The Rolling Stones to early pioneers of the Krautrock scene. Hypnotic, discordant, tribal, and dramatic... they’re the perfect party records after the dried mushrooms have been passed around the room.

Even with the help of a fun-loving caricature artist, the Hapshash & Coloured Coat boys couldn't escape their dour image

The New Messiah Is Coming In 1985

 
17) Transparent Day - THE WEST COAST POP ART EXPERIMENTAL BAND
Michael Lloyd and brothers Shaun and Danny Harris formed the original incarnation of The WCPAEB. After recording their first LP as spritely teens, they were introduced to Bob Markley, a millionaire who essentially bought his way into the band.

Though having minimal musical talents, Markley craved the female attention lavished on lead singers. So with a tambourine in one hand and his wallet in the other, he became the sometimes unwelcome fourth member of the group. Markley may have been looked upon as a pain in the ass, however, the group's most innovative work is often credited to the creative tensions he sparked. “Transparent Day” appeared on the foursome’s first LP The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.

I have no doubt Colonel Fellows, after a hard day of battle, loved to relax to the docile sounds of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Transparent Day

18) Fountain - PETARDS
In what sounds like an episode of The Monkees, the Petards were hauled into a German court in 1966, having their music accused of being too “noisy”. The judge asked them to grab their instruments and perform a song for the jury. They were ultimately fined 50 Deutschmarks.

The German band persevered however and recorded a string of pop-psych 45’s on Liberty Records during 1967 and 1968. In 1969, they adopted a far heavier approach to psych, and then progressed into heavy metal by the early 70’s.

Fountain

19) Who Cares? - GOLDEN EARRINGS
The Golden Earrings have a reputation in the US for being a “heavier” sounding band, thanks in part to their 70’s hit “Radar Love” and their 80’s MTV juggernaut “Twilight Zone.” At home in the Netherlands however, they are commonly thought of as primarily pop stars.

The group’s first real foray into the pop-psych genre was with their third LP Miracle Mirror. Released in 1967, the Golden Earrings used the opportunity to experiment with a multitude of musical styles (baroque, folk, bluesy rock), instrumentation and concepts, all under the veneer of pop psychedelia.

Who Cares?

20) Beatniks In Rome (news story)

Beatniks In Rome

21) Baked Jam Roll In Your Eye - TIMEBOX
While Timebox may rightfully be thought of as a more R&B/soul-oriented outfit, they did produce some very enjoyable pop-psych during their three years on Deram Records. The last of the psych-influenced singles was the 1969 track “Baked Jam Roll In Your Eye.”

The song was written during an evening of heavy drinking and considered a bit of a joke by the band. When the members of Timebox discovered Deram had passed over their more “serious” tunes to release a song spawned from a night of debauchery, they were less than amused.

No need to investigate why there aren't many pictures of Timebox

Baked Jam Roll In Your Eye

22) Psych-Out  Radio Promo
“Dick Clark presents...” is really all you need to know. If that didn’t clarify things for you, the phrase “...from American International,” should be the clincher. In other words, this is a piece of cheesy camp so pungent that it makes the most ripe of Taleggio’s seem like a trip through a field of tulips.

A youthful Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Susan Strasberg and Dean Stockwell trade some of the most ridiculous dialogue committed to paper over the course of 80+ minutes in this 1968 head-twirler. Though one phrase uttered by the character David (Dean Stockwell) seems pointedly self referential: “It’s all just one big plastic hassle!” You said it.

Psych-Out Radio Promo

23) Laughing Boy From Nowhere - SIMON DUPREE & THE BIG SOUND
 In 1968, it was clear that Simon Dupree & The Big Sound were not happy with their identity. One clue was the release of a 7” single under the alternate name The Moles. Regardless, EMI/Parlaphone had readied a 1968 follow up to their first album titled Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friend.

That album, which was to include “Laughing Boy From Nowhere” was never released, though it ended up, in its entirety, on a retrospective decades later. A young, and less gratuitously flamboyant, Elton John is featured on piano.

Let a smile be your calling card!

Laughing Boy From Nowhere

24) Dandelion (mono) - ROLLING STONES
This sweeter-than-usual contribution from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards dates back to August of 1966. At that point, it was  titled “Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Blue” and featured Richards on lead vocals and acoustic guitar.

It was eventually released as a B-side the following year under the title “Dandelion” with Jagger on lead vocals. The song did so much better than the flippant flip “We Love You”, that London records quickly switched the “plug” side to take advantage of the momentum.

Dandelion

 
25) Encapsulated Marigold - OUR PLASTIC DREAM
Our Plastic Dream was a pretty obscure band from the U.K. headed by Pierre Tubbs, who both wrote and produced this track. “Encapsulated Marigold” debuted as the B-side for “A Little Bit of Shangri-la” when it surfaced in 1967 on United Artists’ imprint Go Records.

Tubbs would go on to become a jack of all trades in the music business, partaking in everything from album design to the physical construction of music studios. He was also involved with the bands The Owls, The Jeeps and The Silence.

Encapsulated Marigold

 
26) Sitar Beat - KLAUS DOLDINGER
This Bollywood-styled instrumental is from a soundtrack composed by Klaus Doldinger for the 1968 film Negresco; named after the Le Negresco hotel in Nice. Doldinger is a very well respected jazz musician, having been one of the first entries on the world fusion stage.

Sitar Beat

 
27) Wake Up To Me Gentle - CLAUDINE LONGET
The beautiful French singer Claudine Longet embarked on a career in acting, appearing in many early 60’s sitcoms and dramas. It was the duets with her husband Andy Williams on the highly rated The Andy Williams Show which first drew attention to her wispy vocal talents.

Herb Alpert (half-owner of A&M Records) was duly impressed with Longet’s alluring appearance and breathy, kittenish style and signed her to a multi-record contract. She made an immediate, if short, impact on Billboard’s Top 20. In 1972, Longet recorded the French pop-psych LP Let’s Spend The Night Together, from which “Wake Up To Me Gentle” was released as a single.

Her personal life is also rather fascinating. She and her husband, for example, were very close friends of Bobby Kennedy’s. Williams, Longet and Kennedy had discussed meeting after the presidential contender’s ill-fated speech at the Ambassador Hotel. Kennedy was to give the couple a sign during the televised press conference if their plans were still a go. And indeed, the agreed upon gesture is visible if you carefully review the footage. Of course, when the couple excitedly arrived at the hotel, they discovered the horrific carnage. Also intriguing is Longet’s conviction for the murder of her second husband. But enough of the gossip.

Claudine Longet

Wake Up To Me Gentle

28) Don’t Say No - ORACLE
This was the B-side of a one-off single on Verve-Forecast, a label primarily known for jazz releases. “Don’t Say No” was written by longtime Curt Boettcher associate Ruthann Friedman in 1964 and was produced by Boettcher (his first name misspelled as “Kurt” on the record label) and Keith Olsen.

The song was recorded in November of 1967 and released the following month. When originally composed, it was reportedly intended for The Clinger Sisters, an apple-cheeked Mormon group not unlike the cloying Osmonds.

Don’t Say No

29) I Love You, Alice B. Toklas - Radio Promo

I Love You, Alice B. Toklas - Radio Promo

 
30) I Love You, Alice B. Toklas - HARPERS BIZARRE
Alice B. Toklas was the longtime “companion” of Gertrude Stein, the two having lived together in Paris, France until Stein’s death in the late 1940’s. In 1954, Toklas published a cookbook filled with culinary specialties, which included a delightful recipe for brownies made of cannabis.

Jump to 1968, and another turned-on treat, the film I Love You, Alice B. Toklas, is released in theaters across America. It stars Peter Sellers and Leigh Taylor-Young and features the music of Harpers Bizarre. This gem is also featured on the band’s final long player Harpers Bizarre 4, and was covered by The Blades of Grass.
 

I Love You, Alice B. Toklas

31) I’ve Been Over The Rainbow - MORT GARSON
Canadian born Mort Garson attended Julliard until World War II interrupted his promising career. When he returned from service, he became a top session musician working with a Who’s Who of big pop names in the 40’s and 50’s. Little of that work gave hint of what would follow in the freewheeling, psychedelic 60’s.

In 1967, Garson began collaborating with electronic music guru Paul Beaver and created a series of trippy spoken word albums starting with Zodiac, Cosmic Sounds and ending in 1971 with the occult oriented Black Mass/Lucifer. In between all this was his pop-psych / electronic fusion titled The Wozard of Iz, a send up of Frank Baum’s infamous children’s classic. The record was released on A&M in 1968 and featured boot fetishist Nancy Sinatra as Dorothy.

I’ve Been Over The Rainbow

32) LSD, A Documentary Report (excerpt)
 In 1966, Capitol Records released an LP they claimed reflected their concern over the growing, indiscriminate use of LSD. Label president Alan Livingston wrote the hyperbolic liner notes, and seriously, were he really concerned about the use of acid, he never would have released Revolver or Pet Sounds. LSD, A Documentary Report plays like an updated version of Reefer Madness, featuring people incessantly giggling and stumbling through bizarre stories of spooky trips.

LSD, A Documentary Report (excerpt)