ORIGINS OF PSYCHEDELIC ROCK
There is a place in VIRGINIA CITY, a small town in northern NEVADA, called THE RED DOG SALOON which is still in existence today. This small establishment was the nucleus for the birth of what is labeled PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC. Back in 1960, CHANDLER A. LAUGHLIN was managing two “beatnik” coffee houses in Berkley, California (The Cabale Creamery and Jabberwocky). During his tenure there he fostered a tribal, family like identity. He supported local talent as well as supporting up and coming folk acts. In April of 1963 (this is pre-Beatles on Sullivan) he with about 50 others attended a traditional, all-night Native American peyote ceremony. During this ritual of fasting and prayer the use of peyote was not to be considered recreational AND any hallucinogenic effects are to be spiritual visions.The ceremony, held in a tepee, usually begins on Saturday night with scripture readings, prayer, meditation, singing, and drumming all while congregated around a holy fireplace. Outside of the enclosure other “relatives” prepare four sacramental foods which will be consumed prior to sunrise, some to offset the bitter taste of the peyote being consumed. A true traditional breakfast will be served just prior to the closing of the ceremony, well after sunrise.
What I found interesting was that the music during the prayer services consisted of a singer who used a gourd rattle accompanied by a water-drummer. The singer does four (4) songs in the “peyote language” and then passes the instrumentation to the next person to sing. All participate, as we will learn became part of THE RED DOG EXPERIENCE.
In the summer of 1965,LAUGHLIN along with DON WORKS organize a few folk acts to perform at MARK UNOBSKY recently refurbished RED DOG SALOON. There they offered THE RED DOG EXPERIENCE, an experience with no clear delineation between "performers" and the“audience”, a truly new musical expression. LAUGHLIN booked friends and acquaintances from his folk background in Berkeley, especially THE CHARLATANS (for six weeks) and an unknown BIG BROTHER and THE HOLDING COMPANY, complete with a primitive but albeit light show. Also, OWSLEY STANLEY, the manufacturer of LSD (still legal at the time) was involved. Unbeknownst to THE CHARLATANS, they were dosed with acid therefore becoming the very first band to perform under the influence of the drug. The performers as well as the patrons (mostly long haired) dressed in wild west style and or Elizabethan styled clothing. At the conclusion of the summer, most headed back to the Bay Area where these early “hippies”,as called by the press, began hosting dances for up to 300 people.The FAMILY DOG (October 16,1965) being the very first psychedelic rock dance and light show ala RED DOG EXPERIENCE held at LONGSHOREMAN’S HALL(black lights, strobe lights, fluorescent paint and discordant, improvised music known as the psychedelic symphony) followed by another “dance” at CALIFORNIA HALL and one at THE MATRIX. Then, January 21,22,23,1966, a 3 day event entitled THE TRIPS FESTIVAL was held at LONGSHOREMAN’S HALL sponsored by KEN KESEY and THE MERRY PRANKSTERS. On Saturday the 22nd over 6000 folks high on “electric kool-aid” enjoyed The GRATEFUL DEAD and BIG BROTHER and THE HOLDING COMPANY NOTE:On October 24, 1968, possession of LSD was made illegal in the United States.
Across the big sea a similar occurrence was happening in LONDON where MICHAEL HOLLINGSHEAD, a British academic had experienced pure Sandoz LSD and seeking further investigation he contacted TIMOTHY LEARY and with RICHARD ALPERT they played a major role in their famous LSD research at MILLBROOK, New York. In, 1965, Hollingshead returned to the UK and founded the World Psychedelic Center in LONDON where he is alleged to having introducing LSD to DONOVAN, KEITH RICHARDS, PAUL MCCARTNEY, JOHN LENNON and GEORGE HARRISON.
According to some music researchers, especially Bill Martin in his 1998 book, “Listening To The Future”, Martin stated that the musical turning point in 1966 and 1967 was the BEACH BOYS release of “Pet Sounds” and of course THE BEATLES “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band”. These two thematic releases inspired other bands to create albums that would be more unified in theme while also becoming more diverse in sound.NOTE:The Beatles last concert was August 29,1966 in Candlestick Park, San Francisco.
Done as a touring band the FAB FOUR plus GEOFF EMERICK (engineer) and GEORGE MARTIN (producer ) started working (November 24,1966) on a new song “Strawberry Fields Forever” which would later be sold as a double sided single backed with “Penny Lane”. “Strawberry Fields Forever”, with the line “nothing is real” is the first truly psychedelic British single. The BEATLES now off the road are in a different mindset. Along and armed with a brilliant engineer and a producer consider the FIFTH BEATLE, collectively situated in a modern studio with all the updated bells and whistles, that is, equipment needed for reversing tapes and making loops, etc., they said ,“let the fun begin”. At this time each BEATLE had purchased MELLOTRONS (from MIKE PINDER of The MOODY BLUES) for their home studios and also learned how to use the multi tracking capabilities of 4 track recording devices. No longer did THE BEATLES simply “want to hold your hand”, these Boys looked and acted weirder and wilder. Hence, they worked on what later would become,”Sgt. Peppers”. These thematic albums of the times were more than an aural experience, they had become almost visual in your mind as well.
During the summer of 67 and throughout the fall we were treated to the joys of “Itchycoo Park” by the SMALL FACES, “Flowers In The Rain” by THE MOVE, “Hole In My Shoe” from TRAFFIC, the emergence of JIMI HENDRIX at Monterey and of course, LSD. During this period the music industry quickly moves further away from 45 RPM, and more towards LP’s or more specifically toward “concept” albums.
In The USA we had THE MOTHERS (66/67) to keep us entertained with their Dadaist elements, abrupt rhythmical changes, and of course ZAPPA’s keen political satirical mind. THE MOTHERS in concert during this period did not play their “hits”(songs from their LP’s) but instead took numerous chances on stage while purposely upsetting the straight laced concert goers who did not fully understand what the band was trying to do.
During the SUMMER OF LOVE (1967) nearly 100,000 kids headed to San Francisco’s HAIGHT ASBURY with “flowers in their hair, flowers everywhere”. It is time to “turn on, tune in, drop out”. This coincides with young adults declaring “rock and roll” soon to be shortened to “rock” was here to stay, this “rock” music was not some phase they would grow out of. Rock was to be an essential part of their being, the way they expressed themselves. Even the sounds recorded at that moment in time changed. Listen to JORMA KAUKONEN’s feedback on JEFFERSON AIRPLANE’s “Surrealistic Pillow”. It was new, unique, and different They, the audience took this music seriously, and so did the musicians who made it .
Reporting on the “happenings” changed also. The cigar smoking, shirt and tie wearing newsman suddenly had long bushy sideburns, bell bottom jeans, smoked a joint and wrote from the heart. Journalism, the reporting of the news was way different from what it was only a few months before. Slanted as it might have been, these new writers helped teens develop a better understanding of culture and politics. An example would be RAMPARTS magazine, which started as a Catholic Quarterly, but now in ‘67 it was a full blown anti-establishment rag. It’s articles raised the hair on the back of some necks; Vietnam, the CIA, The Black Panthers. The NEW YORK TIMES “Best Sellers List” had The New Journalists like NORMAN MAILER, TOM WOLFE and other non-traditional authors topping the charts. Consequently, the “radicalization” of the youth in the USA circa 67/68 did not have the same feeling in Great Britain as the British counterparts (that is 18 year old males) did not need to “fear the draft”. So music in America was skewed a bit more in a political vein than in Great Britain.
PSYCHEDELIA ERA: US RELEASES versus BRITISH RELEASES… 67/69 (in no particular order)
To better understand PSYCHEDELIC music of 1967-1969 let us delve into what was available in the records stores about that time. Remembering that much of what was available was NOT played on the radio per se and that most of the hoopla surrounding these records was passed around by word of mouth or after seeing the band play live.
THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION: “Freak Out”-In The USA we had THE MOTHERS (66/67) to keep us entertained with their Dadaist elements, abrupt rhythmical changes, and of course ZAPPA’s keen political satirical mind. THE MOTHERS in concert during this period did not play their “hits”(songs from their LP’s) but instead took numerous chances on stage while purposely upsetting the straight laced concert goers who did not fully understand what the band was trying to do.This their debut (summer of 66) was a double record set, quite unusual for the time.
THE MOTHERS(of Invention): “Absolutely Free” their second album (Summer of 67) with its strange introduction side 1 “Plastic People” was a delight and closing with “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It”.
LOVE: “Forever Changes” the third and final offering from this racially mixed Los Angeles group featured great cover art and songs which were darker than their previous outings. It still stands up today. The record sold better in the UK than the US.
13th FLOOR ELEVATORS: One of the first groups to use the word “psychedelic” in a song. “Slip Inside This House” the 8 minute plus opening track of their second LP “Easter Everywhere” has the expected fuzz guitars and as do most ELEVATORS tunes this ditty features the “electric jug” playing of TOMMY HALL, yes, “electric jug” The cover art is something to behold.
COUNTRY JOE and THE FISH: “Electric Music For The Mind And Body” again great cover art.
‘Let me see, there was Owlsley, Orange Barrels, Window Panes, Purple Haze, Silver Flake, Blotter … and Country Joe & The Fish knew how to make all of them do what they did best … trip you out”.(Psychedelic Baby Mag- online 9/6/16)
CAPT.BEEFHEART and THE MAGIC BAND: “Safe As Milk” This debut is considered “avante-garde pop” and not truly psychedelic except for the time frame in which it was released.
JIMI HENDRIX: “Axis: Bold As Love” Jim Miller in Rolling Stone magazine reviewed this second offering from The JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE “Jimi Hendrix sounds like a junk heap (Ben Calder crushed monolithic mobiles bulldozed), very heavy and metallic loud. Rock’s first burlesque dancer, superman in drag, his music is schizophrenic. Axis: Bold as Love is the refinement of white noise into psychedelia…”4/6/68
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE: “After Bathing At Baxter’s”. Baxter was code for LSD, so the title “After Tripping On Acid” probably would not make it past the higher ups at RCA.
BLUE CHEER: “Vincebus Eruptum” (allegedly latin for “Throw Up and Live” but it is not true) BLUE CHEER (named after a certain brand of Owlsey’s LSD, that is true) was said to be the loudest band in 67/68 and this debut by the trio was called a “howling mess” by one critic.
Other notable listens include:
QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE: “Quicksilver Messenger Service”
SONS OF CHAMPLIN: “Loosen Up”
THE GRATEFUL DEAD: “The Grateful Dead”
MOBY GRAPE: “Moby Grape”
BIG BROTHER and THE HOLDING COMPANY: “Cheap Thrills…”
THE SEEDS: “Future”
IRON BUTTERFLY: “In A Gadda Da Vida”
CHAMBERS BROTHERS” The Time Has Come Today”
BYRDS “Younger Than Yesterday”
THE DOORS” Strange Days
BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD: “Again”
Meanwhile, across the pond:(67-69) A FEW UK TREATS FOR YOUR EARS:
During this early period of “UK Psychedelic Rock” (67/69) the mainstays on the “underground circuit” were THE MOVE, THE NICE, FAMILY, THE SOFT MACHINE and of course PINK FLOYD with the illustrious Roger “Syd” Barrett, a mad visionary according to those who experienced early Floyd, pre “The Pipers At The Gates Of Dawn”(released August 67). Musically PINK FLOYD was nowhere near what it later became but the seeds of what they were to become were planted by SYD. As stated by one member “we were young and naive” and “could take the music to wherever it took us”.Early PINK FLOYD did the UK circuit (UFO Club and The Roundhouse) playing their “sonic breakouts” during “happenings” using numerous props, pre-recorded taped loops, a quadrophonic sound system, and a light show. They became the darlings of the new underground. Spontaneous was the key word describing what EARLY FLOYD did as one performance was not like the next, and most never the same. That is, until drugs (LSD), mental illness, and irritating stage behavior made the genius of ROGER “SYD” BARRETT dispensable to the other three. SYD was fired on April 6, 1968, replaced by DAVID GILMORE.
1966: THE WHO: “A Quick One While He’s Away”, a 9 minute suite included on their second LP (“A Quick One “in the UK and retitled “Happy Jack” in the US to capitalize on their single of the same name). This album had a unique Pop art cover art and “A Quick One” was the precursor for subsequent PETE TOWNSHEND works.THE WHO along with CREAM made their American debut at MURRAY THE K’s “Music In The Fifth Dimension” March 1967.Welcome to America.
1967: THE WHO: “The Who Sell Out”- returning from a successful USA tour THE WHO produced what some say is their best effort. Complete with parodies of adverts used on radio, a shot at the pirate Radio One, with a great album cover all add to the excitement of this collection.
THE SMALL FACES: “Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake” The lp had a unique round cover complete with fold outs. Side 1 had semi hits “Afterglow” and “Lazy Sunday” but side two was “Happiness Stan”consisting of a musical suite of six songs interlinked with narration provided by comic monologuist and performer Stanley Unwin in his unique, nonsensical private language of “Unwinese”.(Wiki).
TOMORROW “My WHITE BICYCLE” this 1967 UK single features backwards guitar phrasing by Steve Howe later of YES on guitar and is considered one of the piece of the foundation of British Psychedelic rock.
KALEIDOSCOPE (UK) not to be confused with the US band of the same name (at the same time), their first LP: “Tangerine Dream” includes the wonderful track "Flight from Ashiya”.(late 67 early 68)
THE SOFT MACHINE “The Soft Machine”, I dare you to listen to “Hope for Happiness” the opening track. This lp was originally recorded as demos in NYC while the band was touring, opening for The JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE.Somehow I constantly saw their name in concert billings around NYC especially one at HUNTER COLLEGE (w/ Hendrix) and later that year they were featured in EYE magazine so I chanced it and bought the lp.
NOTE: THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN was to tour the US opening for HENDRIX who ultimately said, “I’m not going on with that man” so SOFT MACHINE replaced CRAZY WORLD.
Arthur Brown was co-lead singer of THE FOUNDATIONS but left to form his group with classically trained VINCENT CRANE, organist and arranger. Later ARTHUR BROWN forms KINGDOM COME.
THE SOFT MACHINE “Volume Two”(69) has a few of the bells and whistles offered in a new multi tracking recording studio. The band in subsequent years become leaders in the jazz fusion genre.
THE PRETTY THINGS “S.F. Sorrow” considered the “first rock opera”, this band tried every conceivable genre including “punk” rock. However, in my opinion this endeavor was their finest moment.
PINK FLOYD: “The Pipers At The Gates Of Dawn”(released August 67).Early Pink Floyd deserves a piece unto themselves.This album helps define what was going on in the early circuit of British Psychedelia.
THE ZOMBIES (1968) known simply as “O and O” (Odessey and Oracle) had a great cover art, complete with the mis-spelling of odyssey, and the tunes were phenomenal. “Care of Cell 44” tells it all. Unfortunately, the band’s morale was at a low point and a break up was eminent.
TRAFFIC:” Mr. Fantasy”, the British version (the best of the bunch) is quite different from the US copy, (3 versions).
TRAFFIC: A Psychedelic Band That Rocks on stage???
Most of this piece will be from a true fan’s (Jim Fromm) review of a show TRAFFIC at the Fillmore East April 26-27, 1968: Traffic/Blue Cheer/Iron Butterfly
Traffic, the British rock band from Birmingham founded by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood, and Dave Mason were known for their genre-fluid rock music.This was Traffic’s first American tour, which began on March 14 in San Francisco at The Fillmore. The group was originally a quartet, with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason. However, the mercurial Mason quit and rejoined the group regularly, and he had apparently left the group prior to their American tour, which had begun in March. Traffic’s current album was Mr Fantasy (UA Dec 67).
Traffic was one of the first groups to emphasize overdubbing as a means of creating different sounds on different songs. Winwood, Mason and Wood played numerous instruments, and clever use of the studio meant that Traffic songs could be anything from frothy pop ballads with flute and sitar to heavy rock with twin lead guitars and organ. Live, however, Traffic’s sound was very different, as it depended on Winwood’s versatile organ playing (including the bass pedals), and they were more like a typical (if excellent) British R&B combo. For whatever reasons, Dave Mason reappeared in New York and joined the group onstage for at least one of the four performances. He would rejoin the group for the recording of their next album. Blue Cheer were an SF power trio, backed by LSD king Owsley Stanley, and named after a brand of his acid. Owsley bought the band tons of equipment (supposedly Blue Cheer had 12 Marshall Stacks, 6 each for bass and guitar), and they were famously loud. Unlike other peace-and-love SF bands, Blue Cheer had a noisy, nasty sound and demeanor. Their quasi-hit, a remake of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” is a precursor to Heavy Metal. Their first album (Philips Mar 68) was called Vincebus Eruptum (the underground buzz at the time was that it was Latin for “Throw Up And Live“, although actually it meant nothing). Amazingly, their single got to number 14, and for many out in the hinterlands, it was a hint of something darker and wilder in the world. Although Blue Cheer is fondly remembered for being ahead of their time as masters of sonic assault, even their fans concede that they weren’t particularly disciplined. This show would have been with the original trio, with Leigh Stephens on guitar, Dickie Petersen on bass and vocals, and Paul Whaley on drums.
Iron Butterfly were originally from San Diego, and had relocated to Los Angeles in late 1966. They were touring behind their first album Heavy (Atco Jan 68). However, the album had been recorded in late Summer 1967, and by the time Atco released the album, the band's lineup was somewhat different. Bassist Jerry Penrod had been replaced by Lee Dorman, and singer Darryl DeLoach had departed also, with vocals shared amongst the band. Erik Brann (sometimes spelled Braun) played guitar along with Doug Ingle on organ and Ron Bushy on drums. According to an internet commentator, Iron Butterfly’s equipment had not yet arrived and they used Blue Cheer’s amps. At this point, the Butterfly were just another psychedelic group from California.
Oh, ye, gentle mistresses and most distinguished gentlemen,The opinions and observations are solely my own views, and I take full responsibility for any errors of fact, not to mention any predictions that prove to be wildly inaccurate.
