Who Did Psychadelia Better?

[Denny's Drums]

What exactly is psychedelic music, Mr. F?

My view of psychadelic music is any music that assaults the listener's senses with colorful soundscapes of experimental noise.  It's often been said that the British do pyschadelic muisc better but I feel many American bands made more appealing pyschadelic music, at least to me, ie The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix etc.

[Aegir]

Peter Paul and Mary - Autumn to May

Oh once I had a little dog, his color it was brown
I taught him for to whistle, to sing and dance and run
His legs they were fourteen yards long, his ears so very wide
Around the world in half a day, upon him I could ride.

Sing tarry-o day, sing, autumn to may.

Oh once I had a little frog, he wore a vest of red
He’d lean upon his silver cane, a top hat on his head
He’d speak of far off places, of things to see and do,
Of all the kings and queens he’d met while sailing in a shoe.

Sing tarry-o day, sing, autumn to may.

Oh once I had a flock of sheep, they grazed upon a feather
I’d keep them in a music box from wind or rainy weather
And every day the sun would shine, they’d fly all through the town
To bring me back some golden rings, candy by the pound.

Sing tarry-o day, sing, autumn to may.

Oh once I had a downey swan, she was so very frail
She sat upon an oyster shell and hatched me out a snail
The snail had changed into a bird, the bird to butterfly
And he who tells a bigger tale would have to tell a lie.

Sing tarry-o day, sing, autumn to may.

Released in 1962, but still one of the trippiest songs I've ever heard.

[Roger Ryan]

Aegir was talking about something which was either in a book or posted somewhere on the internet. It was a theory about the lyric in that song being John questioning others and their closeness (or distance) from what he perceived to be his level of genius.

"No one I think is on my level" could be a way of seeing it from that theory.

And for a guy who thought for at least a day that he was Jesus Christ -- I wouldn't put it past his ego to assume that theory correct.

I don't see the "no one I think is in my tree" line as any different than the general mood of "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times". Just another depiction of loneliness. By the way, Lennon's quote about Christ was in the context of the Beatles' extraordinary popularity; he was astonished that his band was perceived as being "bigger than Jesus" which really wasn't much of an exaggeration in 1966. Again, there's a difference between commenting on being more popular than Jesus Christ to the masses and claiming to be better than Jesus Christ, although a number of folks in the U.S. couldn't differentiate between those two ideas at the time.

As for psychedelia: Brian did some wonderful mind-expanding music during the "Smile" era and after, but the Beatles really ruled this genre. In other words, "Good Vibrations" is a better song than "Strawberry Fields Forever" but the latter blows the former away in terms of psychedelia. And yes, George Martin should be properly credited for first utilizing effects that would become standard in psychedelic productions.

[Jeff Mason]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned the first big psych hit, "Eight Miles High" or discussed YtY or Notorious as great pyschedelic music that blew at least the Beatles' pysch music away.

[I. Spaceman]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned the first big psych hit, "Eight Miles High" or discussed YtY or Notorious as great pyschedelic music that blew at least the Beatles' pysch music away.

You're entirely right, of course. Renaissance Fair and Tribal Gathering are prime examples.

[Big Bri]

How about the Small faces doing "Itchycoo Park",was that psychadelic?
Big Bri

[rb]

Eight Miles High - I know it's psychedelic, but I just can't hear it that way anymore. Just great Byrds music with the Coltrane-inspired guitar overlay. Transcends the 'psych' label.

Regarding the original question, songs like Strawberry Fields and Walrus define a certain type of psych in a way no Beach Boy music ever did, or could.

[Ron]

Even GV, though?  Certainly psychedelic, and certainly monumental. 

[rb]

Even GV, though?  Certainly psychedelic, and certainly monumental. 

Good question, and a point well taken. GV is another one I don't hear as psych anymore - but that's just me.

[Reverend Joshua Sloane]

Andrew Oldham's comments on Good Vibrations pretty much solidify the fact that the song is a great psychedelic piece in its own way. GV is odder than Strawberry Fields Forever to my ears. Stripped of its production, SFF could be a nice folky tune. Whereas stripped of its production, GV is still a very odd piece.

[Aegir]

I Am the Walrus, to me, isn't psychedelic, it's just weird and purposely confusing. The Shakespeare play on the radio accidently mixed in makes for some pysch, but it was unintentional and therefore I can't attribute it to the song itself.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, even ignoring the lyrics, was very psychedelic, though. The vocals, especially. The first time hearing, those backing vocals in the chorus (the "aahhhhh"s) were just, wow. Blue Jay Way is psychedelic even though it's just about George's friends getting lost on on their way to his house, just because of the way it was played and recorded.

But the weirdest thing was seeing Strawberry Fields Forever on the old Beatles cartoon, what a crazy episode.

[I. Spaceman]

I Am the Walrus, to me, isn't psychedelic, it's just weird and purposely confusing. The Shakespeare play on the radio accidently mixed in makes for some pysch, but it was unintentional and therefore I can't attribute it to the song itself.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, even ignoring the lyrics, was very psychedelic, though. The vocals, especially. The first time hearing, those backing vocals in the chorus (the "aahhhhh"s) were just, wow. Blue Jay Way is psychedelic even though it's just about George's friends getting lost on on their way to his house, just because of the way it was played and recorded.

But the weirdest thing was seeing Strawberry Fields Forever on the old Beatles cartoon, what a crazy episode.

The Shakespeare play was not accidentally mixed in, it was purely intentional. What happened to be on the radio was by chance, but the radio feed was by design.

[donald]

Just what IS psychedelic?  I thought Blows Against the Empire was psychedelic.  But toward the end of the night I would listen to the Byrds Unntitled or Pink Floyds Atom Heart Mother.........if I were a swan I'd be gone....marmalade..I like marmalade....


I was never big on Beatles as music to accompany astral plane travel...same with the Beachboys....

I did enjoy Abbey Road as pleasant smoking ambience and Holland was also good for that sort of thing.

Did any of you ever get into Lost Chord, Threshold or Childrens x3 by the moodys?  Nice traveling music if ever there was.   A soft magic carpet.

[Uncomfortable Seat]

What I like are the Beatles' psychedelic lyrics, especially Strawberry Fields Forever, Baby You're A Rich Man, and It's All Too Much.  For me, those songs describe it well

[I. Spaceman]

The best psych music really is by the 13th Floor Elevators. Nearly every song they wrote is about the psychedelic acid experience.

13th Floor Elevators 
Slip Inside This House 

Bedoin tribes ascending
From the egg into the flower,
Alpha information sending
State within the heaven shower
From disciples the unending
Subtleties of river power
They slip inside this house as they pass by

If your limbs begin dissolving
In the water that you tread
All surroundings are evolving
In the stream that clears your head
Find yourself a caravan
Like Noah must have led
And slip inside this house as you pass by.
Slip inside this house as you pass by.

True conception, knowing why
Brings even more than meets the eye
Slip inside this house as you pass by.

In this dark we call creation
We can be and feel and know
From an effort, comfort station
That's surviving on the go
There's infinite survival in
The high baptismal glow.
Slip inside this house as you pass by.

There is no season when you are grown
You are always risen from the seeds you've sown
There is no reason to rise alone
Other stories given have sages of their own.

Live where your heart can be given
And your life starts to unfold
In the forms you envision
In this dream that's ages old
On the river layer is the only sayer
You receive all you can hold
Like you've been told.

Every day's another dawning
Give the morning winds a chance
Always catch your thunder yawning
Lift your mind into the dance
Sweep the shadows from your awning
Shrink the fourfold circumstance
That lies outside this house don't pass it by.

Higher worlds that you uncover
Light the path you want to roam
You compare there and discover
You won't need a shell of foam
Twice born gypsies care and keep
The nowhere of their former home
They slip inside this house as they pass by.
Slip inside this house as you pass by.

You think you can't, you wish you could
I know you can, I wish you would
Slip inside this house as you pass by.

Four and twenty birds of Maya
Baked into an atom you
Polarized into existence
Magnet heart from red to blue
To such extent the realm of dark
Within the picture it seems true
But slip inside this house and then decide.

All your lightning waits inside you
Travel it along your spine
Seven stars receive your visit
Seven seals remain divine
Seven churches filled with spirit,
Treasure from the angels' mine
Slip inside this house as you pass by.
Slip inside this house as you pass by.

The space you make has your own laws
No longer human gods are cause
The center of this house will never die.

There is no season when you are grown
You are always risen from the seeds you've sown
There is no reason to rise alone
Other stories given have sages of their own.

Draw from the well of unchanging
Its union nourishes on
In the right re-arranging
Till the last confusion is gone
Water-brothers trust in the ultimust
Of the always singing song they pass along.

One-eyed men aren't really reigning
They just march in place until
Two-eyed men with mystery training
Finally feel the power fill
Three-eyed men are not complaining.
They can yo-yo where they will
They slip inside this house as they pass by.
Don't pass it by.

 

[koeeoaddi there]

The Beatles defined psychedelia forever with Tomorrow Never Knows...which was recorded in 1965!! There is nothing trippier or earlier in mainstream LSD rock. .

woah there buckaroo!
Eight Miles High December 65.
Sunshine Superman December 65.
Grim Reaper Of Love - um....earlier?

all before Tomorrow Never Knows.



i just had to edit this cos i forgot to mention The Incredible String Band.
Come on! you know its freakier that anything anyone else ever managed or imagined.
no studio trickery, just two insanse scottish folkies with wierd instruments and weird ideas.
you know you want some string band magic!

[audiodrome]

Brain went "psychedelic" without the studio effects - a lot of people equate psychedelic with tape manipulation, bizarre effects, strange sounds, etc. but Brian's was more "mind music" than "psychedelic." To categorize "Smile" as psychedelic is like calling Charles Ives' music psychedelic (which is more like music to listen to while on LSD).

[punkinhead]

question, how is wedding bell blues psychadelic?  not say it isn't and i've always heard that 5th dimension was of that persuasion, but i didn't grow up then, and i have a hard time figuring these things out

[punkinhead]

let's have a good convo of how SMiLE, Smiley, and possibly parts of Wild Honey are psychadelic...i'd love to hear what people think

[Aegir]

question, how is wedding bell blues psychadelic?  not say it isn't and i've always heard that 5th dimension was of that persuasion, but i didn't grow up then, and i have a hard time figuring these things out

I agree, Wedding Bell Blues just seems like a normal pop song to me. A great normal pop song, very catchy, but I don't see any psychedelia in it.

[punkinhead]

i see it as a mama's/papa's-esq song...with that ragtime piano & all

[Ron]

question, how is wedding bell blues psychadelic?  not say it isn't and i've always heard that 5th dimension was of that persuasion, but i didn't grow up then, and i have a hard time figuring these things out

Sorry to post a year after you mentioned this since I had mentioned it as a psychedelic song earlier in the post... yes you're right it's not very psychedelic but I always saw the 5th dimension as psychedelic, mainly because of their name and their look.

That song came out in 69 on the Aquarius album

[brianc]

Beatles.

[the captain]

I'd say doing psychedelia better is nothing to be proud of anyway. Both made great music that spanned genres.

[brianc]

**let's have a good convo of how SMiLE, Smiley, and possibly parts of Wild Honey are psychadelic...i'd love to hear what people think**

In the traditional sense of the term, I think the Baby Boomers feel like they almost own the pop culture evocation of the acid experience. I disagree, and feel like acid and hallucination in general has had other valid genres in music and art. But in terms of late '60s, I don't hear much in the way of acid expression on "Wild Honey." That might sound a bit stupid. I guess I'd just define it as musically or lyrically evoking the experience of mind alteration, which might also include dropping out, Eastern philosophy, meditation and the zodiac. The organ on 'How She Boogooloo'd It" is definitely psychedelic.

I think "Smile" and "Smiley Smile" are as psychedelic as they come. I imagine you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't think so.