The Beach Boys are my Favorite Psychedelic Group

[Bill Tobelman]

Psychedelia, in general, doesn't get much musical cred in my book. I think the trend ruined music to a large degree.

But my favorite psychedelic group is easily The Beach Boys. Artistically their leader Brian Wilson was way ahead of the pack, philosophically on another level, & the music proves it.

I couldn't care less about Airplane, the Dead, Floyd, Elevators, etc. Give me The Beach Boys. My favorite psychedelic group. I'll take Pet Sounds & SMiLE any day over any other lightweight psychedelic classics!!! Brian Wilson is the visionary.

The Beach Boys= The Best Psychedelic Group Ever!

[SMiLE Brian]

Agreed, Bill T!

[oldsurferdude]

OK, but not quite sure I'd classify PS as psychedelic.

[clack]

Psychedelia is notoriously difficult to define -- but 'Pet Sounds' ain't it. 'Smile' yeah, and 'Smiley Smile' for sure.

[Shady]

Word

[Gertie J.]

OK, but not quite sure I'd classify PS as psychedelic.

exactly.

[Bill Tobelman]

When MOJO made Pet Sounds the #1 album ever LSD was mentioned in the first or second sentence of their analysis.

David Dalton attested to what one could pick up from Pet Sounds.

Remember these were the early days of a new form of communication. Different methods of communication were applied than were later accepted as the norm.

[Ebb and Flow]

When MOJO made Pet Sounds the #1 album ever LSD was mentioned in the first or second sentence of their analysis.

Isn't it possible that something can be created under the influence of psychedelics without actually being psychedelic in nature?  Remember that the actual words that are sung on Pet Sounds mostly come from the pen of a guy who worked in advertising.

I think something like Pet Sounds would have come out of Brian in '66 regardless of whether he had taken acid in '65.  The 2nd side of Today is indicative that he was evolving and going towards a more orchestrated and complex musical style and a more introspective lyrical approach.  I think to chalk that up to his LSD is ignoring the musical and personal turmoil and growth that occurred just before that.

[rab2591]

I've always thought that psychedelic pop/rock is music that is inspired by/works well when tripping on hallucinogens/conscious-altering drugs.

Assuming that's the case, I'd definitely put Pet Sounds and Smile into that category....also a bit of Summer Days as well.

Edit: Ebb and Flow made some good points above. Though I'd argue that many of Brian's instrumental choices on Pet Sounds were aided by that "new palette of colors" that LSD gives you...the theremin, the layers of complex orchestration, etc.

Not that this has anything to do with psychedelia, but did anyone here see that scene in Mad Men where Roger takes LSD? 'I Just Wasn't Made For These Times' plays through most of it, and it fits perfectly.

[TMinthePM]

I think the medical consensus on LSD is that it turns off the natural filters in the brain that block an otherwise overwhelming profusion of incoming data. Simple survival determined feed, fight and f..k as all we need to know. In evolutionary terms, perceiving radio waves had a low priority.

Having said that, it is well established that Brian Wilson had been well psychedelicized in the course of 1965-66. But being an artist at the very peak of his game, the insight gained was expressed not in sloppy self-indulgence that characterized much of the work of his less accomplished contemporaries, , but rather in a highly disciplined way. No strawberry-marshmallow-whatchamacallits on Pet Sounds, but rather an extended meditation on the arc of love. Very sophisticated musically and conceptually. And definitely psychedelic.

[Bill Tobelman]

Terrific post! Your "an extended meditation on the arc of love" is insanely brilliant and so accurate that it escapes notice.

[TMinthePM]

"I think something like Pet Sounds would have come out of Brian in '66 regardless of whether he had taken acid in '65."

Can't argue with on this point. Quite right. The man was operating at full throttle.

But take a string of the classic ballads - Don't Worry Baby, The Warmth of the Sun, Keep an Eye on Summer, Hushabye, Girls on the Beach - there is a perfection of form and execution, a rightness and clarity, that is truly Classic. And I define Classic as the definitive standard of excellence.

There is a difference in Today Side Two, in Summer Days and Pet Sounds. It is hard to describe but builds on that classicism, takes it a notch higher, opens it, deepens it, extends it. The psychedelics are in that mix. 

[Bill Tobelman]

"I think something like Pet Sounds would have come out of Brian in '66 regardless of whether he had taken acid in '65."

I don't think so. The way he was feeling and thinking and musically competing at the time had a lot to do with his new found spiritual appreciation brought about by LSD.

[leggo of my ego]

Word

I'm hanging around waiting for the naysayers - that should be along soon enough. 

[Shady]

How are Bill Tobelman and TMinthePM not the same person..or are we all one?

[oldsurferdude]

The therimen on IJWMFTT, the sparkletts water container for percussion on Caroline, No, the bicycle bell on YSBIM-hmmm... was the use of these items considered psychedelic at the time they were recorded or somewhat afterwords? At the time of PS's release, with GOK, WIBN, SJB getting the lion's share of airplay, I don't remember it ever referred to as psychedelic.

[Bill Tobelman]

Keep in mind that saved from those sessions was "Good Good Good Vibrations." It was later was redone & became best song/psychedelic song ever!

Wow! The best psychedelic song ever originated during the Pet Sounds era!

Also consider that Al Jardine considers the recordings for Pet Sounds and SMiLE largely indistinguishable. The vibe was pretty much the same.

[alf wiedersehen]

I think the only thing about psychedelic about Pet Sounds would have been "Good Vibrations" and "Hang On to Your Ego." But, one was used for a different album and the other was cut and reworked into the non-psychedelic "I Know There's an Answer."

[Jay]

The "water chant" is about as psychedelic as the group ever got. Which is odd, because it's only vocals as far as I can tell.

[18thofMay]

Pretty hard to define another man's feelings. It is our perception or connection that we feel.

[Ebb and Flow]

"I think something like Pet Sounds would have come out of Brian in '66 regardless of whether he had taken acid in '65."

I don't think so. The way he was feeling and thinking and musically competing at the time had a lot to do with his new found spiritual appreciation brought about by LSD.

Not much of that has to do with the actual musical content, which is a progression of what he had done on Today and part of SDSN.  Musically, Brian was competing with what the Beatles had achieved on Rubber Soul under the influence of marijuana.

I'm not saying that LSD did not have an impact on Brian's life or musical consciousness at that time, but to define Pet Sounds as "psychedelic" because of that is ignoring the actual musical content.  You make it seem as though once Brian took LSD there was some magic switch turned on.  The switch was always on.

Keep in mind that saved from those sessions was "Good Good Good Vibrations." It was later was redone & became best song/psychedelic song ever!

Wow! The best psychedelic song ever originated during the Pet Sounds era!

It's still not on Pet Sounds, and to me, it would not have fit with the rest of the themes the album explores.

Also consider that Al Jardine considers the recordings for Pet Sounds and SMiLE largely indistinguishable. The vibe was pretty much the same.

The vibe may have been the same but the music is very different.  At the end of the day, Pet Sounds is still boy/girl relationship stuff with more complexity.  Smile is a completely different animal both lyrically and musically.  California Girls was directly influenced by Brian's first acid trip.  Would you consider that a psychedelic anthem?

[SonicVolcano]

My vote goes to Piper At The Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd. Syd Barrett was a genius, too

[Cabinessenceking]

I think the medical consensus on LSD is that it turns off the natural filters in the brain that block an otherwise overwhelming profusion of incoming data. Simple survival determined feed, fight and f..k as all we need to know. In evolutionary terms, perceiving radio waves had a low priority.

Having said that, it is well established that Brian Wilson had been well psychedelicized in the course of 1965-66. But being an artist at the very peak of his game, the insight gained was expressed not in sloppy self-indulgence that characterized much of the work of his less accomplished contemporaries, , but rather in a highly disciplined way. No strawberry-marshmallow-whatchamacallits on Pet Sounds, but rather an extended meditation on the arc of love. Very sophisticated musically and conceptually. And definitely psychedelic.

solid interpretation imo.

[BergenWhitesMoustache]

I couldn't care less about Airplane, the Dead, Floyd, Elevators, etc. Give me The Beach Boys. My favorite psychedelic group. I'll take Pet Sounds & SMiLE any day over any other lightweight psychedelic classics!!! Brian Wilson is the visionary.

Even though I totally, totally disagree with the notion that psychedelia destroyed music, I can't really rail to hard against that, because it's EXACTLY what I think about Punk.


Anyway, I wouldn't take any of those acts over the Beach Boys, but whilst they might have epitomised 'psych', to readers of Rolling Stone magazine back in '68, that's not really the case now. All the obscurities have had time to float to the top, and there are plenty of albums (or even acts who never got further than a single or two) that are considered way more significant now than upon release.


So given that, and even taking into account my unconditional love for the Beach Boys, they aren't even in my top 100 'psych bands'

[TMinthePM]

I am toying with the idea this morning that the psychedelic movement in popular/rock music of the 60's might best be understood as an aural equivalent to the Impressionist movement in painting of the late 19th Century, each breaking out of the accepted formalities of structure and content, each expressed in a profusion of styles and visions, each initially trashed by the establishment, then embraced as the new standard, each ultimately transcended.

Take, for example, Summer Means New Love - if that doesn't conjure an impression of a serene summer's day, I don't know what. Could be SoCal, could be Nantucket. Probably a reworking of A Summer Place?