Rabz’ Radio Show Rocktober 2022: Psychedelia


This is my favourite musical genre. As various R&B purveyors in the sixties got a bit older, they started experimenting with illicit substances other than amphetamines, such as THC, LSD, mescaline and psilocybin.

Consequently, the music became far more complex (and occasionally extremely self-indulgent) and was meant to reflect an alternate consciousness, if getting totally off your face on the aforementioned substances could be dignified with such a term. See for example, the difference in musical style between Help and Rubber Soul, recorded after the Beatles had recently experienced Mary Jane (courtesy of one Bob Dylan) and LSD. Syd Barrett, the founder of and key initial figure in Pink Floyd was a salutary example of what happens when too much LSD is barely enough.    

The Psychedelic style has remained a musical staple since the late sixties, nonetheless. The definitive (for me) record of 1967’s (northern) “Summer of Love” was the Monterey Pop Festival, so gloriously essayed in the D A Pennebaker film – although the standout performance is by Otis Redding, who was most certainly not a purveyor of Psychedelia. Various movies of the time also sought to explore the “altered consciousness” concept, including “The Trip” and “Vanishing Point”, not to mention “Easy Rider”.

Some of my favourite examples of the genre post the sixties include Naz Nomad and the Nightmares and the Dukes of Stratosphear (the Damned and XTC respectively). Primal Scream also mined the genre with their 1997 epic, “Vanishing Point” (named after the film), which included an awesome homage to Syd Barrett, “Burning Wheel”.

The other wonderful thing about Psychedelia is the fashion style and the instruments. Stoves, suede Chelsea boots, paisley shirts, mop top haircuts, granny glasses, suede fringed or Levi’s jackets, mellotrons and twelve string guitars (hello, Rickenbackers).  

Some other bands and artists that have dabbled in the genre include:

The Byrds

Jimi

Jefferson Airplane

The Dandy Warhols

The Church

Barely scratching the surface. No doubt there are many artists, bands and songs that will be posted by Cats this evening. Now again, comes the hard part – picking two intro songs. Let’s have some local flavour:

The Church (1981)

The Moffs (1984)

Enjoy, Cats!


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P
P
October 1, 2022 7:10 pm

The Byrds – Eight Miles High

Roger
Roger
October 1, 2022 7:15 pm
Roger
Roger
October 1, 2022 7:17 pm
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 7:20 pm

I really have to start with this one, which manages to be both a tribute to psychedelica and a satire of it. It’s also great fun, and did well on the charts.

Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart (1990)

Roger
Roger
October 1, 2022 7:24 pm

Does this qualify? I think it does.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 7:26 pm

Testing
Is this thing on?

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 7:27 pm
Roger
Roger
October 1, 2022 7:27 pm
Roger
Roger
October 1, 2022 7:28 pm

Or maybe this.

Roger
Roger
October 1, 2022 7:30 pm

Or this.

Roger
Roger
October 1, 2022 7:33 pm

Or this, from The Dead’s second album.

See if you can work out why it’s called The Eleven.

Roger
Roger
October 1, 2022 7:34 pm

Enjoy!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 7:35 pm

Another worthy tribute to the genre.

No Quarter – Tool (2000, Led Zeppelin cover)

The video alone is enough to get you to another planet.

Tony Taylor
Tony Taylor
October 1, 2022 7:39 pm

For me the defining album of 1967 is Forever Changes.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 7:42 pm

The Funkees – Break Through
Acid drippin’ funk from Nigeria.

Tony Taylor
Tony Taylor
October 1, 2022 7:45 pm

Sorry, I accidentally reported a comment. No idea which one. But if someone gets vapourised, know that I will remember you fondly, whoever you are.

PS: another vote for Traffic.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 7:50 pm

Roger started it.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (1967)

A Day In The Life (1967)

eric hinton
eric hinton
October 1, 2022 7:51 pm
Dragnet
Dragnet
October 1, 2022 7:54 pm

The 13th Floor Elevators were great purveyors of the genre in that initial 1965-67 period.
Dick Clark (?) Interviewed the band,
Q: Who’s the head of the band ?
A: we’re all heads

Dragnet
Dragnet
October 1, 2022 8:00 pm

And yep closer to home The Moffs were an awesome experience in 1984-86

Dragnet
Dragnet
October 1, 2022 8:01 pm

Ah snap Eric Hinton

Old Goat
Old Goat
October 1, 2022 8:05 pm

If you look at what the media and most of the twitterati are spouting they are using some serious hallucinogens . Most of the posters here were around when the hippy age occurred but embraced reality . In the end it was heroin that decimated this genre . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-GUjA67mdc pretty sums it up .

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 8:10 pm

Be-in

Fine pop band the Dandy Warhols! We used to be friends is an anthem.

eric hinton
eric hinton
October 1, 2022 8:13 pm

Slightly OT … should have spun this one on the live show

Billy Orphan’s Tears Shooting Screen

Any Sandgroper know of other bands the guitarist (Bradley Clark) was in?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 8:17 pm

Back to business, these two tracks go together all the way to orbit.

Space Oddity – Bowie (1969)

Ashes To Ashes – Bowie (1980)

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 8:28 pm

The Bees- These Are The Ghosts
from the smuggler’s Isle of Jersey, confessed that the only substances which they could access were the Blue Meanie mushrooms, which grow on horse patties.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 8:35 pm

Old Goat – that album is awesome. I love The Stranglers. So here’s another one from them:

Ice Queen – The Stranglers (1984)

Harlequin Decline
October 1, 2022 8:54 pm

Here’s one of the earliest I can remember. Circa 65, Yardbirds with Shapes of Things.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 8:55 pm

Temples – Colours To Life
The youngsters punch it home with a three-chorus throwback.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 8:55 pm

Nice one Harlequin, I’d cued that one up myself

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 8:58 pm

Is this where you live

Reminds me of another track, by Icehouse. As trippy as you can get:

The Ghost Of Time – Icehouse (31 Dec 1999)

Twenty minutes of pretty amazing. I was watching it live at the time, the video doesn’t have the clarity to do it justice. It was a complete blast. Welcome little new millennium!

Harlequin Decline
October 1, 2022 8:59 pm

Thanks Walli, how could anyone beat Beck, Clapton and Page?

Harlequin Decline
October 1, 2022 9:03 pm

White Rabbit would be my second post, fantastic song but that’s already been posted by Roger.

Harlequin Decline
October 1, 2022 9:08 pm

So that leaves one that Mr Rabz brought to my attention a few years ago…Black Angels-Young Men Dead.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 9:11 pm

Tame Impala, back in the midst of bat flu madness

Totally trippy…

Tame Impala – Half Full Glass Of Wine (2008)

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 9:13 pm

White Denim – Drug
Made on – drugs
About – drugs
Feels like – …

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 9:21 pm

Tame Impala –
I Knew Them Before They Were Famous.
They were unknowns opening for post-hotness You Am I in a brick highway tavern, did a nifty cover of Blue Boy’s Remember Me. Sung it low and easy, wigged out guitars- organic three piece back then. I said gday as they swept the floor afterwards, complimented him that he made it look easy- genuinely effortless singing voice. I don’t know why the hell he’s adopted the whiny Billy Corgan tone.
Enough to say, I Like Their Old Stuff Better Than Their New Stuff.
Side project- Pond – Xan Man

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 9:26 pm

I keep getting distracted by excellent tracks by other Cats. Must focus.
To the fine psychedelic band NASA. Not the space agency.

Spacious Thoughts – N.A.S.A. (2009)

Gifted – N.A.S.A. (2009)

(My favorite is of course Way Down for some inscrutable reason known only to Cafe Bruce customers.)

132andBush
132andBush
October 1, 2022 9:27 pm

I think this fits.

Mazzy Star.
Beautiful song

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
October 1, 2022 9:53 pm

Bruce of Newcastle says: October 1, 2022 at 8:58 pm

Reminds me of another track, by Icehouse. As trippy as you can get:
The Ghost Of Time – Icehouse (31 Dec 1999)

Thanks for the recommendation, it wasn’t bad.
On clarity, you could have linked to a clearer version.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 9:59 pm

Mazzy Star always fits, Squire.

Seconded.

Mazzy Star – Tell Me Now (1995)

This isn’t in any of their albums, but is just gorgeous.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 10:09 pm

you could have linked to a clearer version.

Colonel – The trippiest bit was all those floats on Sydney Harbour. I want a clearer version of the thingies on the water. The track and the visuals together were really awesome. All those strange floating creatures were real, built by someone just for the event.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 10:10 pm

My thanks go to P for that video btw.
I meant to include this credit but I got 500 errored.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 10:26 pm

No Hippee Chick

Perfect blend of awesome with pop to produce awesome pop. I liked it when Soho came out with it in 1990 (had to look the year up but). Cool idea.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 10:41 pm

Got to stop, I get awoken at 5:30am by insistent magpies.
My final contribution:

Second Song (2011)

Dunno why they did the video since the track isn’t even a B side. But both the single and the video are pretty cool, and fit well with Rabz theme.

calli
calli
October 1, 2022 10:43 pm

It can’t be psychedelia unless you have the Moodies.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 10:43 pm

The 12 string invocation by Rabz last night got me thinking- were R.E.M. ever psych?
Maybe. The Lifting, off the underrated Reveal album.
Note I’m posting all this deaf tonight, nu computa sans speaker. I’ll have to catch up on the new suggestions soon.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 1, 2022 10:57 pm

I so forgot the Moody Blues and ELO. 😀
Sorry.
Bye.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 11:08 pm

Still skirting around psych pop music, keepin’ the vim in the thread.
The Coral – Goodbye

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 11:14 pm

Janelle Monae – Tightrope
“whether you’re high or low.. trippy trip on the tightrope…”
Tho Monae is ostensibly a Baptist who prays with the band on the way on and off the stage, me reckons she is fascinated enough by the pageantry of voodoo to have a few wild sessions behind her. This song might sound like straight up R&B funk, but pay attention to the composition- the extended trickle-down fadeout is the way a good trip will burn off in the dawn

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 11:15 pm

Fleet Foxes – Mykonos
The film clip is a work of art in itself- another discombobulating change of pulse at the 3/4 mark

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 11:18 pm

…is anyone still standing?
Dr John – Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 1, 2022 11:49 pm

Oh for sure, berry buck n Mills were masters of space and misdirection, and Stipe’s dadaist lyric construction sure kept the listener wondering. Funnyly enough it was only late in the piece where he got more into storytelling and alternate personas, and unconsciously or not bought his own demons to the front of stage, that the songs really touched me.
Mind you, psych-by-numbers can be fun too, even from the endowment fund baby of the entertainment aristocracy-
Kula Shaker – Second Sight

calli
calli
October 1, 2022 11:51 pm

Here’s an astral plane to fly.

Crossie
Crossie
October 2, 2022 12:07 am

Would this song qualify?

Buffalo Springfield

Crossie
Crossie
October 2, 2022 12:09 am

The Beach Boys certainly spent a long time recording this one. Was it due to certain chemicals?

Good Vibrations

Katzenjammer
Katzenjammer
October 2, 2022 8:37 am
johanna
johanna
October 2, 2022 10:06 am

Who said that the mighty Quo were a one trick pony?

Pictures of Matchstick Men (1968)

and

Psychedelic folk rock by Donovan:

Mellow Yellow

The rumour was that you could get high by smoking banana peels. Never tried it, though.

johanna
johanna
October 2, 2022 12:02 pm

Hawkwind at the centre of the universe.

Stevem
October 2, 2022 2:42 pm

Like so many others my favourite will always be Hope Sandoval – either on her own or fronting Mazzy Star. Saw the mazzys in Sydney a few years ago and marvelled at the smh review that spent most of the article criticising the lighting for being too dark rather than the music. What exactly did they expect?

Jannie
Jannie
October 2, 2022 2:49 pm

This is all just so cool. Going to take days to make my way though these links, just to make sure my ideas are not repeats.

The prize must go to Bruce of Newcastle for Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, it might not have been the first, but it was the biggest.

Very Excellent work Rabz.

Jannie
Jannie
October 2, 2022 3:01 pm

Tame Impala, close to me geographically, so to speak. Also have connections to Jerry, Kevin’s old man. Big noting.

Jannie
Jannie
October 2, 2022 3:03 pm

The rumour was that you could get high by smoking banana peels. Never tried it, though.

I did Johanna. Trust me, it doesn’t work. Nor does Lettuce Opium.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
October 2, 2022 5:38 pm

Tripped out funk from Tangiers
Nomade Orquestra – Bedum
It’s actually a rock solid album, a lot slower and richer than a lot of inch-deep afrobeat dross.
…as long as this thread’s open I’ll keep chipping in

eric hinton
eric hinton
October 2, 2022 6:13 pm
Anchor What
Anchor What
October 2, 2022 6:27 pm

Play the Rolling Stones “Dandelion” to people of sixties/seventies generations and see if (i) they recall it at all, and (ii) can recognise it as a Rolling Stones song.

Anchor What
Anchor What
October 2, 2022 6:29 pm

Jefferson Airplane and The Doors. Nothing else comes close.
They actually toured Europe together, and Morrison got completely off his face on drugs before one performance. He just scoffed whatever pills young people in the street gave him – all at once.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 2, 2022 8:16 pm

I completely forgot last night to put up a Zappa track.
Bad me.

Nanook Rubs It (1974)

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
October 2, 2022 11:10 pm
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
October 3, 2022 4:52 pm

Rabz – The Incredible String Band. Many lost nights on this and other stuff in the sixties.

Very psychedelic

johanna
johanna
October 3, 2022 6:18 pm

Creeping back, as usual.

Anchor What
Anchor What
October 3, 2022 6:24 pm

Sorry, I accidentally reported a comment.
And if a six, turns out to be nine,
I don’t mind.

Anchor What
Anchor What
October 3, 2022 6:27 pm

Lizzie, you can come to our place out near your childhood places any time. Never mind the grinch of QBN.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
October 3, 2022 6:49 pm

Rabz is a friend of mine.
And of the ole Hairy Cap’n Beefheart fan.
Who can’t stand the Incredible String Band.
I can’t stand them either these days either and many other bands were better.
But under acid and stoned to the eyeballs, back then, another story.
Even more than in seventies, for the psych-sixties, you had to be there.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood indeed.

Thanks Anchor What.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
October 3, 2022 11:46 pm

Good to see ya back lizzie

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
October 4, 2022 9:10 am

Hardly ‘back’, Louis Litt, thanks though. I’m on holidays in Pacifica, the New World of the multi-racial multi-ethnic Pacific and just dropped by to say hello to Rabz, my buddie on his own thread, whom I’m pleased to see is in a good place in his life right now, and because the whingey old Incredible String Band, endpoint of many a stoned psychedelic sixties party, hadn’t had a mention.

So easy to forget how boring psychedelia became. 🙂

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
October 4, 2022 10:10 am

By 1973 under Mike Oldfield it turned to spooky horrorshow: Tubular Bells.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
October 6, 2022 10:07 pm

Oh shucks Lizzie, you can call we Luigi

  1. Not much inconvenience if you’re getting rogered in rural Tasmania while collecting a parliamentary defined benefits pension.

  2. Sort of unbelievable, but then again: Like so many newly-retired boomers, my parents seem to have developed a full-on travel…

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