JimENight
|
How do you seriously define Psychedelic music?Well, I need to know, dear listeners... what are your criteria for truly psychedelic music? Does it lie in the instrumentation, studio production, song writing style, arrangement, vocals, lyrics, edits...?
Extra credit for anyone who illustrates their definition with references to specific audio examples (i.e., specific artists, tracks or albums).
|
JJJ
|
wah wah_
To a large extent electronic effects like wah wah and heavy reverb defined psychedelic music. These audio effects actually mimicked neuro transmitter synapse responses in a drug altered brain. Some may be lucky enough to get the flashback wah wahs just thinking about it.
_
|
Joe_Stax
|
While working on a real response, I'd like to paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart when I say...
"I can't define what psychedelic music is, but I know it when I hear it"
|
Joe_Stax
|
When Jim told me he was starting this thread, I was excited, but wary. Excited, because as Jim can tell you, I can go on for hours about this sort of thing; wary, because I’ve never tried to articulate any of my free form rambling in print.
I would loosely define psychedelic music as coming from the years 1967-69 (approximately), and utilizing:
Abstract or surreal lyrics—this is the point when, influenced by Dylan, most “serious” writers broke free from the standard teen aspects of the pop song. The Beatles started to move away from that style as early as ’65, but things seem to have matured in 1967.
Unusual instrumentation or arrangements, use of sound/studio effects—the proliferation of interest in eastern sounds led to the sitar being used or imitated in a number of pop songs (Norwegian Wood, Eight Miles High), the Theremin is used here and there (Good Vibrations). If you listen to the group Sam Gopal, you’ll find that their main percussion instrument is the tabla, rather than the standard drum kit. You find the use of sound effects (animal noises, pet sounds) coming into play on straight records, not just novelty numbers; and new studio effects, going beyond echo and compression like phasing and flanging, for a layer of dreamy distortion, as well as backwards tracking, sound montage and for songs like Strawberry Fields or A Day in the Life, the use of a number of different takes being edited into a coherent final version.
I’ll also mention unusual tempos, and changes in tempo. Songs may be “interrupted” by spoken word pieces, or jerk suddenly into a snatch of another song before veering back into the main piece.
In an attempt to get a contemporary perspective on what psychedelic music was, I pulled Lillian Roxon’s Rock Encyclopedia off the shelf. Published in 1969, it’s worth reading for seeing how things were perceived at the time.
When I looked up the entry for “psychedelic music”, it said, “(see ACID ROCK)”. Interesting; I always thought that acid rock was heavier, more of an early hard rock thing.
So I went to the entry for acid rock. Here, it says, that acid rock was originally “music that tried to reproduce the distorted hearing of a person under the influence of [LSD]”.
Further, it was “slower and more languid than hard rock, incorporating much of the Oriental music that was providing background sound for the drug experiences of that period”. So, acid rock could enhance as well as induce a psychedelic state.
The reader is also directed to see the entry for HEAD MUSIC, which assures us that “some music is more appropriate to certain chemical states than to others. There is music that doesn’t even start to make sense, say drug aficionados, until the mind has been suitably altered or bent to receive it”. As we all knew. But did you know that…”there are people who claim you can’t possibly know what’s going on in Van Dyke Parks’ album SONG CYCLE if you are listening to it straight”?
Personally, I think of the heart of the sound as being British. It’s just my taste, really, but it seems that the template for the style is based on the Sgt Pepper and Piper at the Gates of Dawn albums. There are other fine examples, but the Beatles brought the sound into the mainstream, and the Floyd represent perhaps the perfect version of the era in under 40 minutes: whimsical lyrics alternating with lyrics with a mystical bent, extended numbers, wild effects, and yet capable of delivering a top 10 single.
More questions: where does the era begin/end? Can electronics be psychedelic? Who were some of the groups/artists who prefigure or continue the psychedelic sound into the 70’s? And, finally, how do you feel about the ongoing revival that began in the early 80’s with the Paisley Underground?
My next post will include some examples of groups, albums and songs that I feel exemplify the psych sound and style. What are some of your picks?
|
Joe_Stax
|
Psych pre-67Okay, if we say that the psychedelic era starts in 1967, circa Sgt Pepper, were there any predecessors?
In terms of using the word itself, there was the Deep (Psychedelic Moods lp on Cameo Parkway) and I think the 13th Floor Elevators (Psychedelic Sounds).
The Beatles also had a great hint of things to come with Tomorrow Never Knows on Revolver. Some of the hardest psych they did!
|
JimENight
|
Well, I suspected that Joe & I would agree in some areas of this definition, and disagree in others.
First up - the time-line for the Psych Era.
I've always defined the psychedelic era as beginning in 1966.
Sure, Sgt. Pepper is the touchstone for the masses, but the psychedelic movement was going strong underground from about 1963-64 if you follow Timothy Leary and his writings/recordings/experiments back - cf: the spoken word recording "The Psychedelic Experience" folkways, 1963!
Jerry Garcia recalls acid hitting the streets in the San Fran scene around 1964 (in an 80s interview I have) the film Mondo Mod (1966) features an interview with a (blindfolded) man under the influence of LSD, and Ken Kesey's Acid Tests were mostly all held in '65 & '66.
Let's face it, if it weren't for psychedelic drugs (and this includes grass) there wouldn't have been a coresponding movement in pop music. It may have taken until the middle of '67 to reach the mainstream consciousness, but it was certainly in full swing in 1966.
So what music did it influence in 1966?
I direct your attention to the following albums:
Psychedelic Moods - The Deep
Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
Revolver - The Beatles
The Fugs Second Album - The Fugs
The Acid Test - Ken Kesey
AMM Music - AMM
Sunshine Superman - Donovan
Of course, these selections will raise the argument that psychedelic music does not necessarily need to refer only to rock. But perhaps that is for another rambling post...
How is Sgt. Peper any more psychedelic than Revolver?
I'd say that on Revolver you've got several psychedelic songs: Tomorow Never Knows, Love You To, Dr. Robert, I'm Only Sleeping, She Said She Said
(known to have been influenced by one of Lennon's acid trips with Peter Fonda!). It's mainly the McCartney songs on Revolver that aren't psych... but then again, are the McCartney songs on Sgt. Pepper all that psychedelic? If Eleanor Rigby isn't psych, then neither is She's Leaving Home.
If For No One isn't psyche, then neither is When I'm Sixty-Four.
I'd say that aside from the 'concept' that Pepper has going for it, both Revolver & Sgt. Pepper are pretty equal in the psychedelic gravity department.
Okay but, Pet Sounds? No, I don't really consider this a psychedelic album. But it does have it's psych leanings... the concept - in this case, (unwittingly perhaps) showcasing Brian Wilson's "I-Guess-I-Just-Wasn't-Made-For-These-Times-style" of loner depression. But the album also features exotic instrumentation and arranging. If tabla and sitar can contribute to the psychedelic sound, here Wilson acheives his meta-emotive moods with the likes of alto flute, bass harmonica, plastic glass cleaner bottles, and of course, Theramin.
And last but not least, is the jarring, confounding sounds of a speeding railroad locomotive & barking dogs that close the album. Psychedelic? Well, for that moment, yes.
As for the other albums on the above list - yes, I would consider all of them to be psychedelic. They may not all rock, exactly, but they are all wonderfully lysergically experimental. Sometimes whimsical, sometimes groovy, sometimes defiant, sometimes downright insane all-in-all in that special way!
Oh, and as for The 13th Floor Elevators, I can see where it might be hard to accept their first album as truly psychedelic in light of what Syd Barret era Pink Floyd & others like them accomplished in '67-'68. But it is widely accepted that Rocky Erickson did more than his fair share of Acid, and if he says his music is psychedelic, I am certainly not going to disagree.
I will stop myself here.
But for the record, I felt it my duty to draw the psychedelic time-line for pop music as beginning in that crazy, hazy, groovy year - 1966!
More to follow.
Dig.
|
JimENight
|
Now, everything else that Mr. Stax hath said in his descriptor of psychedelia is right on, man. It's like a spot-on Wikipedia definition for the Now Generation. And the biggest point that I must stress he is right-on about, is the psychedelic sound being most effectively done as a British sound.
While I do believe there are different brands, or flavors (if you will) of psychedelia in music, the Brits do seem to have got it right everytime.
There was definitely an American psychedelic sound, perhaps best catured in the West-Coast sounds a la The Jefferson Airplaine, Kaleidoscope, Grateful Dead, The Doors, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Love, United States of America, etc.
but the British groups/albums are wholly of the highest, sweetest lysergic brand!
One the best: The Pretty Things - "S. F. Sorrow" (1968)
I finally got my first listen into this amazing album... BRILLIANT, MUSICALLY! Absolutely transporting! Intelligent.
I cannot recommend that album enough!
It is a must listen. Wonderful, top-of-its-game British Psychedelic music!
Thanx for turning me on, Joe.
|
Joe_Stax
|
This doesn't really add much to the discussion, but while flipping through some old Mojo mags, I came across this list of the top 100 psychedelic tracks available on cd (in 1997). The list wasn't numbered, but was split into US and UK sections. I numbered things for vague organization.
Feel free to agree or disagree--just tell us why!
01. Eight Miles High (First Version) – the Byrds
02. Alabama Bound – the Charlatans
03. Visions Of Johanna - Bob Dylan
04. Blues From An Airplane - Jefferson Airplane
05. Section 43 - Country Joe & The Fish
06. Someone To Love - The Great Society
07. Electricity - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
08. Foolish Woman - The Oxford Circle
09. Feel The Music - The Vejtables
10. Roller Coaster - 13th Floor Elevators
11. Psychotic Reaction - Count Five
12. Children Of The Sun - The Misunderstood
13. Feathered Fish - Sons Of Adam
14. 7 and 7 is – Love
15. Good Vibrations - Beach Boys
16. Frantic Desolation - Sopwith Camel
17. Keep Your Mind Open – Kaleidoscope
18. Crystal Ship - The Doors
19. Mr. Farmer – the Seeds
20. Get Me To The World On Time - Electric Prunes
21. Johnny Was A Good Boy - Mystery Trend
22. Omaha - Moby Grape
23. White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
24. Hallucinations - Tim Buckley
25. Are You Gonna Be There? (At the Love-In) - Chocolate Watch Band
26. Ball And Chain - Big Brother & The Holding Company
27. Anxious Color - Painted Faces
28. I’m Five Years Ahead Of My Time - Third Bardo
29. Magic Hollow - Beau Brummels
30. Broken Arrow - Buffalo Springfield
31. Incense And Peppermints - Strawberry Alarm Clock
32. The Red Telephone – Love
33. Change Is Now - The Byrds
34. (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding
35. A Question Of Temperature - Balloon Farm
36. Dance To The Music - Sly & The Family Stone
37. Pride Of Man - Quicksilver Messenger Service
38. That’s It For The Other One - Grateful Dead
39. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Butterfly
40. Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
41. Song For Our Ancestors - Steve Miller Band
42. Machines - Lothar & The Hand People
43. Crimson & Clover - Tommy James & The Shondells
44. William - White Lightning
45. Dream Within A Dream – Spirit
46. War In Peace - Skip Spence
47. Darkness, Darkness - Youngbloods
48. Electric Sailor - Kak
49. Mountains Of The Moon - Grateful Dead
50. Star-Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix
51. Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles
52. Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
53. Making Time - The Creation
54. Season Of The Witch – Donovan
55. Happenings Ten Years Time Ago - The Yardbirds
56. I Feel Free - Cream
57. Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles
58. Interstellar Overdrive - Pink Floyd
59. My Friend Jack - The Smoke
60. The Days Of Pearly Spencer - David McWilliams
61. In Your Tower - The Poets
62. Green Circles - Small Faces
63. I Can Hear The Grass Grow - The Move
64. Are You Experienced? - Jimi Hendrix Experience
65. Night Of The Long Grass - The Troggs
66. Paper Sun - Traffic
67. A Midsummer Night's Scene - John's Children
68. It's All Too Much - The Beatles
69. Colours Of My Mind - The Attack
70. We Love You - The Rolling Stones
71. Itchycoo Park - Small Faces
72. The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice - Jimi Hendrix Experience
73. Matilda Mother - Pink Floyd
74. Relax - The Who
75. Flight From Ashiya - Kaleidoscope
76. Defecting Grey - Pretty Things
77. From The Underworld - The Herd
78. King Midas In Reverse - The Hollies
79. Michaelangelo - The 23rd Turnoff
80. Dream Magazine - Svensk
81. Imposters Of Life's Magazine - The Idle Race
82. San Franciscan Nights - Eric Burden & The Animals
83. Love Is All Around - The Troggs
84. Vacuum Cleaner - Tintern Abbey
85. Madman Running Through The Fields - Dantalian's Chariot
86. Kites - Simon Dupree and the Big Sound
87. I Am The Walrus - The Beatles
88. Revolution - Tomorrow
89. It's Alright Ma, It's Only Witchcraft - Fairport Convention
90. Pictures Of Matchstick Men - Status Quo
91. The Other Side - The Apple
92. Faster Than Light - The Mirror
93. Rainbow Chaser - Nirvana
94. Cold Turkey - Big Boy Pete
95. Me My Friend - Family
96. Fire - The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
97. Diamond Hard Blue Apples of the Moon - The Nice
98. Jugband Blues - Pink Floyd
99. 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)…. - Jimi Hendrix
100. Can't Find My Way Home - Blind Faith
|
Joe_Stax
|
Looking at this list ten years on, I'm surprised by how familiar most of this is.
Even in '97, I knew all of the "A-list" groups, and probably 40 out of 50 of the American material. The British list had more obscurites on it (at least for me). Heck, in 1997, I had yet to discover the Creation, Smoke and Pretty Things!
Still, it's kind of nice to realize that I still haven't heard a few things on the list. I'll have to get busy.
|
JimENight
|
Wow, that's quite a list. I'm not really prepared to agree or disagree with anything there right now, but I am working on my own list.
It will take a while, but I am looking forward to putting together my personal recommended list of the top psychedelic albums from the 60s - many overlooked gems.
Doing the research is the best part!
Anyway, below is a reply taken from the article on Sgt Pepper's... on slate.com (Joe Stax provided a link under his section of these forums).
It gets at what I was rambling on about in regard to the psychedelic era being in full-swing in 1966. It also reminds me that while I agree with Joe that much of the best psych was produced by British groups, we cannot go too far in this discussion without mentioning the San Francisco scene & especially The Grateful Dead. To many, THEY are the pinnacle of the psychedelic mood!
Here's the reply from Slate.com:
The Beatles were innovators in various ways over the years, but if you're talking about the most significant stylistic "currents" that were flowing in early 1967 and ended up contributing to the evolution of "psychedelic" and "progressive" rock, the Sgt. Pepper album was more of a rider of existing currents than an album that redirected the flow.
As one example, the 2nd half of 1966 was a golden age of psychedelic "dance concerts" in San Francisco featuring LSD, trippy light shows and music by the likes of Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Love and Quicksilver Messenger Service.
Because the Beatles were the high priests of pop music (and more popular than Jesus, as I understand it), their 1967 offering was heard by a wider audience than most others. [/b]
|
JimENight
|
Okay,
At first glance that list has some real surprises.
"Stitting On The Dock of A Bay" by Otis Redding?
Hmmmm, I dunno know, man.
On the other hand, "Flight From Ashiya" by Kaleidoscope? Damn straight!
|
JimENight
|
Then again, I sit and listen to a monster psyche album like "After Bathing At Baxters" by Jefferson Airplane, and I think how wonderful the U.S. psychedelic sound was on the Left Coast in '67~
|
JimENight
|
I AM currently in the middle of a double-header: The Grateful Dead "Anthem of the Sun" & "Live/Dead".
It's really simple: If you don't dig these as psychedelic, then you ain't on the right dope!
|
Rockin'_Art_Lewis
|
Are you implying that you have to be stoned to get into it 
Just kidding, Jim!!
Kind of on a side trip from that, I listened to Revolver under the influence of some sort of Hemp product (Not that groovy lip balm they sell in health food stores.) back in the distant foggy past, and found that "Good Day Sunshine" had momentarily become my fave on that album. I suddenly got the "Joke". The song is basically a parody of all those happy little good-timey numbers.
"After Bathing At Baxters"! That one will give you a contact high just from taking it out of the sleeve! B-freakin'rilliant. 
R.A.L.
|
|
|
|