Sweet Tarts Volume 1: Bite Sized Pop Psych Treats!

Why pop-psych? Why not power pop, industrial gothic or Tuvan throat singing for that matter? Perhaps it’s the delicious combination of alluring pop with the more macabre elements of psychedelia. Maybe it’s the sheer expanse of sounds which encompass the genre. Even the underlying philosophy of the style possesses an appeal: expanding the boundaries of pop with the wildest impulses of one’s mind. Maybe, it’s all of the above.

Clearly the genre continues to hold the attention of audiences today. The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Dead Skeletons, Ty West, and Tame Impala channel the sounds of Rain Parade, The Barracudas, Jesus & Mary Chain and The Dukes of the Stratosphere. They in turn reworked the psychedelic mind-expansions of Sagittarius, Pink Floyd, The Creation and The Electric Prunes. Sometimes pretty, sometimes harsh, sometimes twee, sometimes crushing... the genre is a dynamic entity pulsating, growing, and copulating with itself. And to know it requires an examination of its nascency.

So here is a collection of sweet tarts to help you better understand the musical monster that lurks in the corners of your Sirius XM. These sugary and tangy candies for your ears come in an array of psychedelic flavours. We have the quiet, reflective pop psych of Italy’s The Stormy Six combined with the pretty symphonic flights of fancy of Australia’s Steve & Stevie. There are the electronic oscillations of New York trailblazers The Silver Apples side by side with the raging beat psych of England’s Mickey Finn. Not spiritual enough for you? How about Chile’s Sacros? Looking for sheer mind-bending whimsy, how about “See Emily Play” by Pink Floyd?

With psychedelic pop there is something for everybody. So open your ears and taste the candy rainbow (link to musical files and PDF CD booklet at bottom of post)...




1 Hallucination Generation (movie promo)
This is a crudely constructed piece of celluloid headcheese that was reportedly designed as a warning to young adults; much along the lines of Reefer Madness. While the ludicrous ad campaign hit the right psychedelic notes, the film itself was a black and white beatnik snooze fest. Shot in Barcelona, Spain, there are no psychedelic circuses, no debauchery... just a bunch of stilted dialogue and flat acting.

The pointless narration is provided by Danny Steinmann (Stone), who would later go on to direct Friday The 13th: A New Beginning. His psychedelic guru is played by George Montgomery, a relatively popular actor who was once married to Dinah Shore.  Outside of some Elaine Benes-styled dancing, there’s definitely no need to experience this bummer of a trip.

Hallucination Generation (movie promo)

2 White Collar Worker • BOOTS WALKER
Not much is known about Boots Walker, outside the assertion he may in actuality be Louis Zerato. If that is true, he composed the Ohio Express hit “Beg Borrow and Steal”, as well as Mina’s top ten Italian hit “Ta-ra-ta-ta (Try Your Luck)”.  Walker also recorded three singles for the Rust label in 1967, including the alien invasion novelty song “They’re Here”.  The social commentary-oriented “White Collar Worker” was the flipside for “Magic Carpet”, and possesses a fun mix of styles. On this track, Boots is backed by The Atomic Energy Commission.

White Collar Worker

3 Ramo • STORMY SIX
Though not known as popsters with a psychedelic persuasion, the Stormy Six began in that vein when they formed in Milan, Italy circa 1966. Founding member Franco Fabbri had previously performed with the band New Dada, and poached musicians from the group The Witch to round out the roster of his new musical project.

In 1967, the Rolling Stones embarked on their first tour of Italy, tapping the Stormy Six to open. The charismatic Brian Jones had an immediate impact on Fabbri, influencing significantly the style of their second single “He Will”. It would not be until 1969, however, that they finally got around to releasing a proper album: Le Idee Di Oggi Per La Musica Di Domani.

In the early days, The Stormy Six traveled between gigs in coach class

Ramo

4 Taureg • GAL COSTA
The Tropicalia Movement flourished throughout Brazil in the late 1960’s, uniting popular culture with the burgeoning avant-garde. A child of the times, it impacted theater, cinema, poetry and other creative avenues. In the area of music, it influenced a large collective of native musicians to begin fusing Brazilian and African rhythms with psychedelia. Their calling card would be the collaborative masterpiece: Tropicalia: ou Panis et Circencis.

Gal Costa was born in Salvador, Brazil in 1945, and from an early age was enchanted with music. By her eighteenth birthday, she was performing along side some of the people who would form the nucleus of Tropicalia, notably Gilberto Gil, and Caetano Veloso.  It would be Veloso who would pave the way for their evolution with the release of his 1968 debut.

A year later, Gal Costa would release her second self-titled long-player which would come to be known as Cinema Olympia. The LP was rife with explosive horns, African woodwinds, sitars, bass grooves and occasionally punctuated by screams and moans. It was a true “freak out” album, though unique for its purely Brazilian elements. “Taureg” is just one of the treats featured on the highly ambitious recording.

Taureg

5 Caterpillar • SNOW
The Cleveland, Ohio band Muther’s Oats (yikes!) disassembled sometime around 1967 with two of its members (Jim Sikela and Dan Mahoney) joining William Ryan and Tom Morris to form Snow. CBS expressed interest in the band, but only if they added a young lady. Andy Warhol did the same thing to The Velvet Underground. That’s how it worked in those days.

CBS sister label Epic Records released Snow’s sole album in 1968. Several of the tracks feature a sound reminiscent of Sagittarius and The Millennium... in other words, Curt Boettcher meets Sgt. Pepper’s. At the production helm were Sandy Linzer and Mike Petrillo, both accomplished songwriters whose compositions were often utilized by The Four Seasons.

Caterpillar

6 The World Will End Yesterday • SECOND HAND
In 1966, the South London-based group The Next Collection won the opportunity to record a demo after winning a local battle of the bands contest.  They recorded “Fairy Tale” and “Steam Tugs” at the brief, but successful, session. The studio owner Vic Keary was quite impressed, and ushered them over to Polygram Records, where they were quickly signed.  Recording of an album quickly followed, with the band changing their name to The Moving Finger and then finally to Second Hand (a reference to the fact that all of their instruments were bought used).

Both of their demo tracks were polished up for the subsequent LP, with band founder Ken Elliot adding the majority of the remaining songs. Interestingly, the album Reality exhibits a wide range of pop-psych styles you don’t commonly encounter on a single LP. Usually a band aims for either “heavy”, “poppy” or “twee”.  On Second Hand’s debut record, the light and youthful “A Fairy Tale” opens up the platter, while the forebodingly dark and trippy “The World Will End Yesterday” closes out side one.

The World Will End Yesterday

7 Help Me Mummy’s Gone • GAME
The Game were formed from the ashes of the Surrey-based group The Secrets in 1965. Like some bands around the time, they attempted to chase the flavour of the day rather than explore their own personal preferences. As a result, the band was label hopping from 1965 until their untimely demise in 1968.

Of the four singles they released, the only one reflecting their live performances was the positively brilliant “Help Me Mummy’s Gone.” Appearing as the flipside to “It’s Shocking What They Call Me,” the 1967 single is clearly a heavy nod to British psych rockers The Creation. It’s a shame they didn’t follow their fancy to begin with.

Help Me Mummy’s Gone

8 Eye Magazine (promo)
Eye Magazine was an attempt by the Hearst Corporation to cash in on the youth culture. The larger-than-average periodical was like a glossier version of Rolling Stone that focused on music, fashion and dating, but occasionally delved into politics. Cover headlines included: “Peek Into the Closet of Peter Fonda”, “Why Cops Hate Students” and “Do You Have Pop Star Quality?”. As if that weren’t enough, each issue included a “bonus”, such as a record by Al Kooper or a big colorful poster of Aretha Franklin. It ran for fifteen issues then closed its doors in May of 1969 while no one was looking.

Eye Magazine (promo)

9 The Rising Sun • DEEP SIX
The Deep Six are one of the many sunshine pop psych bands to spring from the fertile shoreline of California in the mid 1960’s. They started in the San Diego area as a folk trio, then filled out and electrified, adding a groovy female to help with the lead vocals.

Liberty Records was eager to sign them, testing the waters with the 1966 single “Rising Sun”. The pleasant, folk psych single features an appearance by Buffalo Springfield guitarist Jim Messina (eventually of Loggins & Messina). It became a minor west coast hit, which flipped the on switch for a subsequent LP. Liberty must have had high hopes as they released four more singles before the end of the year... none of which struck a chord with the public.

The Rising Sun

10 Hands Of The Clock • HEATHER MACRAE
Heather MacRae, sister of actress Meredith MacRae (Petticoat Junction), was the girlfriend of Craig Smith in the mid-1960’s. Smith was known for his appearances on The Andy Williams Show, as well as his musical contributions to The Monkees, Glen Campbell, and many others. In mid-1967, taking a break from his participation in The Freeze, he entered the studio with his love interest to record two of his compositions.

“Lazy Sunny Day” appeared as the “plug” side for the single that ultimately appeared in August of 1967 on ABC records. The B-Side “Hands of the Clock” however is a far more interesting endeavor, featuring the sort of spine-chilling screams that would come to haunt Smith after his famous Afghanistan adventures.

MacRae would eventually leave the music business and enter acting, appearing in bit parts on Starsky & Hutch, Sex in the City and The Sopranos.

Heather Macrae wondering if Barry McGuire brought a gun to the photo shoot or he's just happy to see her

Hands Of The Clock

11 Time To Start Loving You • MICKEY FINN
The Mickey Finn in this band is not the Mickey Finn of T. Rex fame, though that mistake is apparently made quite frequently. The Mickey Finn in our sights is Micky (no “e”) Waller, who formed Mickey Finn and The Blue Men way back in 1964. That band was a sort of mod/ beat hybrid with Jimmy Page performing on harmonica. By 1965 they shortened their name to just Mickey Finn.

In 1967, they ended up on Direction Records (a CBS imprint) with what would become a cult beat/psych hit “Garden of My Mind”. The other side of that single was the addicting “Time to Start Loving You”. The song was produced by Richard Gottehrer (cofounder of Sire Records and producer of Blondie, The Go-Go’s, Bongos, and Fleshtones).

Time To Start Loving You

12 Manos Duras • SACROS
Early on, the future looked bright for Chile’s SACROS. Their lead singer and guitarist Patricio Panussis had a nice voice and was a wiz on his 12 string Rickenbacker. In addition, the group earned significant attention after winning musical contests in the late 1960’s. Ultimately, they ended up at IRT records and recorded an LP that was influenced by sacred religious references, American folk rock and pop-psych.

The record was released September 18, 1973 and might have gained some traction if not for the American coup de tat which empowered the notorious General Augusto Pinochet. Within months of Pinochet’s crackdown, the Chilean military was bombing the countryside and restricting all forms of art. Reportedly, almost all copies of the Sacros LP were destroyed as a result.  Many of the band members fled the country, ending up in Spain just in time for the tapas revolution. Delicioso!

Manos Duras

13 I Don’t Care What People Say • SILVER APPLES
The Garden was to be the third LP by New York’s Silver Apples upon the dawn of the 1970’s. Chaos at their recording label Kapp left the tapes in the vault for almost three decades. In 1998, the band released the record on their own.

The opening track of the LP is the happy-go-lucky “I Don’t Care What People Say” which proves to be quite a toe-tapper. The Silver Apples developed a huge following in the late 1990’s which continues to this day. Recently, founder Simeon has been invited to perform at the UK festival All Tomorrow’s Parties, Austin’s Psych Fest, and other swank venues.

I Don’t Care What People Say

14 Flower Power • ALAN STIVELL
In the 1960’s, Alan Stivell was known throughout his French homeland as a Celtic musician of Breton heritage. It was probably a bit of a surprise for fans to hear his 1968 EP on Fontana which is straight-forward, psychedelic sunshine pop. The newly signed artist was no doubt eager to please the record execs, though rumor has it Stivell was quite displeased with the results. Sure, it’s a bit derivative, but it’s a pleasant tab of Beatle-esque psychedelia nonetheless.

Flower Power

15 2000 Light Years From Home • THE ROLLING STONES
Maybe most of our musical stars should spend some time in "the pen". It was while behind bars on a 1967 drug charge that Mick Jagger composed “Toffee Apple.” That song would later undergo a metamorphosis and become “2000 Light Years From Home”. Jagger’s opus would, of course, appear on their album Their Satanic Majesties Request. That LP would be the impetus for many changes, most notably the departure of producer Andrew Loog Oldham, as well as Brian Jones. Speaking of Jones, he plays Mellotron on this hypnotic track from December 1967.

2000 Light Years From Home

16 Funky Mary • APHRODITE’S CHILD
This is our first foray into Greek psychedelic pop and it features future superstar Vangelis (composer of the soundtracks for Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner).  Vangelis Papathanassiou had previously played keyboard for the more pop-oriented Formynx before joining Demis Roussos (bass guitar and vocals) to create the nucleus of Aphrodite’s Child. Phillips received a two song demo from the band and were ready to sign when Greece suddenly fell under the heavy hand of a dictatorship. The aphro kids immediately looked northward to a more welcoming Europe, and signed instead with Mercury Records in Paris.

“Funky Mary” was the flipside of their ninth single “It’s Five O’Clock” (also the name of their second LP). Released in 1970,  It’s Five O’Clock contains the psychedelic pop of their previous endeavors, but also expands into other genres. One of the high points of the album is “Funky Mary”, which makes a play for stripped-down soul-psych with its waves of percussion and jazzy vibraphone. Though the band is identified as “progressive” during this period, the category seems unsupported by the majority of tracks on display. Their third record however, 666, would cement the musical label, as well as the undoing of the band.

Funky Mary

17 Now She’s Gone • ELMER GANTRY’S VELVET OPERA
The original roster of this “here today, gone tomorrow” band lasted little more than a year with the enigmatic Dave Terry (Elmer Gantry) leaving in 1968. One lonely self-titled album and a couple of singles document the celebrated line-up.

“Now She’s Gone” appeared on their freshman LP and, surprisingly, was never released as a single. It’s a pretty, melancholy, psychedelic pop concoction with a dramatic menacing undertone. Terry would later appear on a couple Alan Parsons Project albums as a vocalist. Work is work I suppose.

For rich acoustics, nothing beats an apartment complex alley

Now She’s Gone

18 Space Plane • DAVID MCNEIL
David McNeil is the son of famed painter Marc Chagall and Virginia Haggard (niece of Sir Henry Rider Haggard). He began his career with a plucky little 7” called “Don’t Let Your Chance Go By” which was released by Phillips Records in August of 1968. On the other side of that folksy psychedelic pop single was the mysterious, slightly creepy “Space Plane”.

McNeil has enjoyed a long career in music with almost a dozen album releases under his name, as well as composition credits for a number of French artists including Yves Montand and Julien Clerc. His mother would go on to write a biography of her seven year relationship with Chagall cryptically titled My Life With Chagall.

Space Plane

19 Se Oyen Los Oasos • VIDRIOS QUEBRADOS
These Chilean pop psychers started out as “Los Lawyers”, paying homage to their scholastic major at the Catholic University of Chile. Not wanting to dispense free legal advise in-between gigs, they changed their name to Vidrios Quebrados (Broken Glasses) and began performing to eager audiences. In no time at all, they garnered a spot at the UC First Festival of the Song.

When 1968 rolled around, they signed with UES Productions and released one of the classic Chilean psychedelic pop albums of all time: Fictions. The success of the album lead to multiple national television appearances, and an offer to tour Europe. Once in Paris, lead singer Juan Mateo O’Brien decided to leave the music business and join the student activist organization Popular Unity. Todo habia terminado para Vidrios Quebrados!

Oddly, the notoriously gregarious Vidrios Quebrados found themselves routinely left off party invitation lists

Se Oyen Los Oasos

20 A Change Is Gonna Come • MAX FROST & THE TROOPERS
Wild In The Streets was a ridiculous youth-oriented film starring Shelley Winters, Hal Holbrook and Christopher Jones. Hip youngsters march in the streets, secure the reigns of power and create concentration camps for those over 30 years of age. All of this is done against the background of a Mike Curb-produced LP of hit or miss tracks. The film's theme song “Shape of Things To Come” actually reached the Top 40.

A Change Is Gonna Come

21 I Love You Alice B Toklas (Movie Promo)

I Love You Alice B Toklas (Movie Promo)

22 Je T’aime... Moi Non Plus • SERGE GAINSBOURG & JANE BIRKIN
This may just be the first example of a female orgasm (I’m assuming a reenactment) being worked into a musical composition. Those moans of ecstasy were provided by Jane Birkin, an English actress and singer who appeared in both Blowup and Wonderwall. It was while working on the film Slogan that she met costar Serge Gainsbourg. Needless to say, the ceaselessly horny Gainsbourg was smitten.

“Je T’aime...Moi Non Plus” was originally written for Brigitte Bardot, who joined Gainsbourg at a Paris studio for a two hour recording session. Gainsbourg, master method actor that he was, apparently administered some heavy petting during the production. This understandably infuriated Bardot’s husband Gunter Sachs, who promptly requested the lascivious session be suppressed. Not wanting his gem to go to waste, he offered Birkin a shot at the track as long as she performed it an octave higher than Bardot.

The performance raised quite a row throughout Europe, and was ultimately banned in the UK, Italy and Spain. It was even denounced by the Vatican. Regardless, it reached #1 in England and ultimately sold over 4 million copies across the continent. After the single was released, Gainsbourg reportedly offered Marianne Faithful a crack at the song. Laughing, she took a quick pass.

Serge Gainsbourg pleads with a skeptical Birkin to perform "Je T'aime" in his bedroom, where he insists the acoustics are much better.

Je T’aime... Moi Non Plus

23 Shine • STEVE & STEVIE
Steve Kipner & Steve Groves were a short-lived duo from England who recorded an album on Toast Records under the supervision of Kipner’s father Nat. Pops was a minor shaker and mover in the Australian music scene, owning the Spin label and having signed The Bee Gees to a contract in 1966. The self-titled LP didn’t do particularly well, though it was wonderfully orchestrated and contained several examples of sweet, poppy psychedelia. A single was also released from the album titled “Merry Go Round” with similar lack of success.

Hold your nose on this next factoid... Kipner is responsible for composing Olivia Newton John’s “Let’s Get Physical”. Seriously, that one really hurt.

Shine

24 See Emily Play • PINK FLOYD
Considered an early Pink Floyd classic by most, “See Emily Play” was originally envisioned as a significantly longer opus by composer Syd Barrett. “Emily”, alternately known as “Games In May”, was recorded in May of 1967.  The dreamy track was then edited down to a more standard length in June of that year. When learning of its intended release as a single, Barrett protested and was promptly overruled.

The song was released in most locations only as a 7”, though it did appear on the US version of the LP A Sacucerful Of Secrets. Interesting note, David Gilmour visited the band during the recording session and became concerned when his friend Syd failed to recognize him. The other members convinced Gilmour at this point to join Pink Floyd due to Barrett’s increasingly odd behavior.

See Emily Play

25 House Of Painted Glass • SANDALS
The Sandals were a spunky group of Southern California kids who began playing a Ventures-style surf rock in the early 1960’s. They were fronted by the Belgian born Walter Georis and older brother Gaston who provided support on keyboards. Most of them were still in high school when World-Pacific records signed them up. The Sandals ended up providing music for two movie soundtrack albums and released an assortment of singles.

Like many surf bands who saw the beach craze fizzling out, the group shifted musical gears in 1966, releasing the mild protest single “Tell Us Dylan.” A year later they went pop-psych with their final 45 rpm “House of Painted Glass.” The Georis brothers currently run a restaurant in Carmel and occasionally reunite the band.

House Of Painted Glass

26 Molly • SWEET THURSDAY
The members of Sweet Thursday have quite a musical pedigree between the lot of them. Keyboardist Nicky Hopkins worked with The Beatles, Stones and others as a regular sessions man. Guitarist Alun Davies, was also a frequent session player who collaborated frequently with Cat Stevens. Jon Mark rounded out the group, providing most of the compositions and lead vocals.

In August 1969, they released their self-titled LP on Great Western Gramaphone Records. As fate would have it, the label that would go defunct a year later. “Molly” is a pretty, somber psychedelic trip swimming under prominent, foreboding keyboards.

Molly

27 Enquanto Seu Lobo Nao Vem • CAETANO VELOSO
Caetano Veloso is a nine-time Latin Grammy winner, composer, writer, activist and one of the founding fathers of the Tropicalist wave. That movement provided a perfect vehicle for him not just to express his music, but fashion and sexuality as well, something that was not always welcome in his very Catholic and conservative homeland.

One of the most notorious incidents in his early career was a 1968 performance at the Catholic University in Rio. Veloso took the stage with Os Mutantes and performed in a sexually provocative manner while dressed in a shiny green plastic suit perforated with dozens of wires. Soon the psychedelic show was interrupted with jeering and catcalls resulting in a palpable animosity between the performers and audience. Os Mutantes played with their backs to the students and eventually all marched off the stage in solidarity. This treat is from the compilation juggernaut Tropicalia Ou Panis Et Circensis.

Enquanto Seu Lobo Nao Vem

Enjoy some Sweet Tarts here!