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The United States of AmericaComing Down
'Joseph Byrd, who had frequented avant-garde circles since hanging around with Terry Riley, LaMonte Young, and Virgil Thomson in the early '60s, used the United States of America to bring cutting-edge electronics, Indian music, and "serious" composition into psychedelic rock and roll. The group's sole, self-titled album in 1968 was a tour de force (though not without its flaws) of experimental rock that blended surprisingly melodic sensibilities with unnerving blasts of primitive synthesizers and lyrics that could range from misty romanticism to hard-edged irony. For the relatively few who heard it, the record was a signpost to the future with its collision of rock and classical elements, although the material crackled with a tension that reflected the United States of America itself in the late '60s. By mid-1968, the grand experiment was over. Conflicting egos, a drug bust, and commercial pressures all contributed to a rapid split. The United States of America may have had their roots in the halls of higher learning, but ultimately they were prey to the same kind of mundane tensions that broke the spirit of many a band that lived and died on the streets.'-- richieunterberger.com
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Blue CheerJust A Little Bit
'On the surface, Blue Cheer was the epitome of San Francisco psychedelia. The band was named for a brand of LSD and promoted by renowned LSD chemist and former Grateful Dead patron, Owsley Stanley. The band's sound, however, was something of a departure from the music that had been coming out of the Bay area. Blue Cheer's three musicians played heavy blues-rock and played it VERY LOUD! The Blue Cheer philosophy, intentional or not- was to do as much with as little as possible- crude playing, crude production, reaching out, a primitive grasping, a sonic transcendence only possible through rock and roll, the blues, speed, and volume. You know, all the stuff that's powered the great confused rockers from Bo Diddley to Half Japanese. They take the idea of Jimi's explosive "Let me stand next to your fire" and cram it into every song- Jimi took a breather every now and again, but these guys come at you full-bore non-stop every single fucking song. An air of demented over-indulgence permeates their first two LP's- the songs are merely the excuse for the "jamming"- which consists of freaked out noise-making under a bluesy shuffle more than anything resembling a "solo."'-- furious.com
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The West Coast Pop Art Experimental BandSmell of Incense
'In 1960 Bob Markley, the adopted son of an oil tycoon and a law graduate, moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment. In 1965, Kim Fowley arranged a private party in Markley’s mansion at which The Yardbirds with Jeff Beck performed and which the Harris brothers and Lloyd also attended. Markley was impressed by the large number of teenage girls attracted by the band. The much younger musicians were impressed by Markley’s financial resources and potential ability to fund good quality equipment and a light show. Fowley encouraged them to join forces and with the addition of drummer John Ware, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was formed. The general approach was intended to parallel that being developed on the east coast by Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground. Markley used his legal background to ensure that he held all rights to the band’s name. The band's final Reprise album, Volume 3: A Child's Guide To Good And Evil is generally regarded as the group's high point. However, the naïve peace-and-love message of some of the songs sat uneasily beside the ironic cynicism of tracks like "A Child of a Few Hours Is Burning to Death". The songs showed a tension between the Harris brothers’ melodies, Morgan’s strident lead guitar and effects and Markley’s sometimes bizarre lyrics regarding children.'-- collaged
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Fifty Foot HoseBad Trip
'Fifty Foot Hose is an American psychedelic rock band that formed in San Francisco in the late 1960s. They were one of the first bands to fuse rock and experimental music. Like a few other acts of the time (most notably the United States of America), they consciously tried to combine the contemporary sounds of rock with electronic instruments and avant-garde compositional ideas. They released one experimental and wildly atonal single, "Bad Trip", in 1967, with the intention that the record could be played at any speed. The group had a small but intense following in San Francisco and also toured with other acts including Blue Cheer, Chuck Berry and Fairport Convention, when the band was augmented by Robert Goldbeck (bass). They broke up in late 1969 when most of its members joined the musical Hair.'-- collaged
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The SeedsMarch Of The Flower Children
'Though the Seeds' third album, 1967's Future, was pegged by critics as the band's attempt to ride the wave of baroque/psychedelic/orchestral magic the Beatles defined with Sgt. Pepper's, the recording was actually complete before the release of the Beatles' far more popular breakthrough album, making it impossible for the influence to touch the uncannily similarly minded flower power tones of Future. the Seeds had their own relatively huge smash with the raw high-pressure garage thumper "Pushin' Too Hard" the year before. Future was a deliberate attempt to move away from the band's by-the-numbers caveman garage rock toward something more experimental, spectral, and musical can be felt all over the rest of the album. While the sidesteps into Technicolor psychedelia and overly serious orchestration are interesting and sometimes good, nothing has quite the same power as Saxon's feral howls or the burning fuzz guitar that escapes in the least calculated (and most exciting) moments of Future.'-- collaged
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Mad RiverThe War Goes On
'In the onslaught of innovative San Francisco Bay Area psychedelic bands that recorded in the late 1960s, it was inevitable that some would get unfairly overlooked. Foremost among them were Mad River, whose two Capitol albums made barely a ripple saleswise. Overexposure of the San Francisco scene, however, was likely only part of the reason for their commercial failure. For Mad River were one of the hardest psychedelic bands to get a handle on, their eclecticism, oblique lyrics, and tortuous multi-segmented songs defying quick summarization. Their music can come across like a spiraling, acid-spiked descent into hell. It may not have helped that Mad River's brand of psychedelia was decidedly dark, often venturing into distraught visions in stark opposition to the feel-good stereotype of the San Francisco Sound. Frustrated by their lack of recognition, Mad River broke up by the end of the 1960s, most likely victims of the daring recklessness of their musical experimentation.'-- Richie Unterberger
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Clear LightSand
'Clear Light was a folk-rock/psych-rock group from LA that released one LP off Elektra in 1967, famously known for including two drummers, one of them being Dallas Taylor of CSNY and Manassas fame. Paul Rothchild produced the LP, which explains why the recording sessions were fraught with tension and negativity. The group was masterminded by guitarist/vocalist Bob Seal, bass player Doug Lubahn, and lead vocalist Cliff De Young. Prior to Clear Light the band had been known as the Brain Train. Seal felt a name change was appropriate to coincide with the release of a newly recorded debut single, “Black Roses.” Seal decided on Clear Light, a concept he had come across in his readings of Eastern philosophy, a name also shared by a potent brand of LSD. Rothchild’s iron fist policy coupled with the lack of commercial success led to Clear Light’s demise, shortly after the release of this solid album. Not everyone will like this record because of its eccentric nature but it really is a crime that Clear Light was unable to release a followup to this debut.'-- The Rising Storm
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Grateful Deadlive 05-03-1968 @ Columbia University
'Owsley Stanley, the grandson of a former Kentucky governor, made and supplied the LSD that fueled acid rock and California's hallucinogenic culture in the 1960s. An early patron and sound engineer for the Grateful Dead who also came up with the Dead's trademark skull and lightning-bolt logo, Mr. Stanley was memorialized in the band's song "Alice D. Millionaire," named after a newspaper headline about his arrest for dealing LSD. Mr. Stanley was credited with distributing thousands — some say millions — of doses of high-purity LSD, often for free at concerts by the Grateful Dead and "acid tests" run by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.'-- collaged
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KaleidoscopeElevator Man
'Says Chris Darrow, a member of the original lineup, being in Kaleidoscope was "like going to college. It wasn't easy learning that stuff that was unfamiliar to you. I think it changed everybody's life in terms of the way they approached music, because you were kind of forced by virtue of being in the context of this to take on things that you probably wouldn't take on yourself." No other band of the time could play so many kinds of music, and so authoritatively. A commercial breakthrough, however, was not forthcoming. Dubious management and almost non-existent record label support, coupled with the band's lack of conventional "sex appeal" or an easily-categorized sound contributed, no doubt. In any case, the band went through a few upheavals in personnel before giving up the ghost. Ultimately, says David Lindley, Kaleidoscope was "a genetical experiment that produced several mutant strains of unknown origin and eventually ate itself."'-- Pulsating Dream
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The Savage ResurrectionExpectations
'Formed in 1967 in the East Bay town of Richmond,CA. (near Berkeley) by members of Garage Rock groups Button Willow, Whatever's Right, The Plague, The Blue Boys and others. The Savage Resurrection were one of the youngest Psychedelic bands working the Bay Area circuit.“The Savage Resurrection were signed to Mercury Records by A&R man Abe ‘Voco’ Kesh, most famous for his work with fellow Bay Area-based acts Blue Cheer and Harvey Mandel. Abe ‘Voco’ Kesh” produced their lone, The Savage Resurrection album over the course of three days, capturing a group that sounded Rawer and Punkier than most Psychedelic bands, which could be an advantage or a hindrance. There were flashes of promise, especially considering their extreme youth (Randy Hammon was only sixteen when they recorded their album), but these were not fulfilled, as lead singer Bill Harper and bassist Steve Lage left shortly after the album came out. With replacements The Savage Resurrection only managed to do a little touring in the Midwest before breaking up later in 1968.'-- collaged
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SpiritIt's All the Same
'The LA group's first album, Spirit, was released in 1968. "Mechanical World" was released as a single (it lists the playing time merely as "very long"). The album was a hit, reaching No. 31 on The Billboard 200 and staying on the charts for over eight months. The album displayed jazz influences, as well as using elaborate string arrangements (not found on their subsequent recordings) and is the most overtly psychedelic of their albums. They capitalized on the success of their first album with another single, "I Got A Line On You". Released in November 1968, a month before their second album, The Family That Plays Together, it became their biggest hit single, reaching No. 25 on the charts (#28 in Canada). The album matched its success, reaching No. 22. They also went on tour that year with support band Led Zeppelin, who were heavily influenced by Spirit—Led Zeppelin played an extended medley during their early 1969 shows that featured "Fresh Garbage" among other songs; Jimmy Page's use of a theremin has been attributed to his seeing Randy California use one that he had mounted to his amplifier; and Guitar World Magazine stated "(Randy) California's most enduring legacy may well be the fingerpicked acoustic theme of the song 'Taurus', which Jimmy Page lifted virtually note for note for the introduction to 'Stairway to Heaven'." After the success of their early records, the group was asked by French film director Jacques Demy to record the soundtrack to his film, Model Shop and they also made a brief appearance in the film. Their third album, Clear, released in 1969, reached No. 55 on the charts. Spirit were offered the spot right before Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, but they were advised to turn it down and concentrate on a promotional tour for their third album. Record company managers felt that the festival would not be significant, as it did not seem so at that time, and so they missed out on the massive international exposure that the festival and the subsequent film documentary generated. An alternative view has been expressed that they did not merit widespread recognition, as they appealed to a narrow, psychedelic genre.'-- collaged
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The Music MachineEagle Never Hunts The Fly
'The Music Machine (1965–1969) was an American garage rock and psychedelic band from the late 1960s, headed by singer-songwriter Sean Bonniwell and based in Los Angeles. The band sound was often defined by fuzzy guitars and a Farfisa organ. Their original look consisted of all-black clothing, (dyed) black moptop hairstyles and a single black glove. The group's one big hit was "Talk Talk," a proto-punk single that broke into the Top 20 in 1966. It was "the most radical single" then on Top 40 radio, garage psychedelia at its most experimental and outrageous. The band's success was largely due to Bonniwell, a gifted songwriter who penned "torturous but catchy, riff-driven songs," according to the All Music online database. The original five-man lineup included Keith Olsen, known for wielding a fuzz box, an electronic device that altered his bass guitar sound.'-- collaged
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The Chocolate Watch BandIn the Past
'Back in the mid-'80s, the Chocolate Watchband were trapped in an odd paradox (which actually wasn't that bad a place to be for a band that didn't exist anymore). They hadn't played a note together in almost 15 years, but their original albums were changing hands for $100 apiece or more, and a series of vinyl reissues, first as bootlegs from France and later legit ones from Australia, were selling around the world, and in numbers that only increased as more people had a chance to hear them. What's more, the group's sound was starting to be emulated in the work of then-current bands, playing obscure clubs in places like New York's Chelsea district and other locales as far east as the District of Columbia, made up of teenagers who were too young ever to have seen or heard the Watchband play, and living 3500 miles east of where the Watchband played out its existence, and most of its gigs, two decades before. The group had reached this paradoxical situation -- non-existence juxtaposed with a burgeoning cult of admirers around the world -- simply by being the best psychedelic garage band of the '60s; or, at least, the best one ever to have had a serious recording career. While American bands of the period usually either detoured into folk-rock on their way to more elusive flights of languid psychedelia, or fell back on gimmicks and dumbing down their image (à la Paul Revere & the Raiders) to sell records, the Watchband retained an amazing purity of purpose and intent -- they owed a considerable (and undeniable) debt to the Rolling Stones for various elements of their sound, but they kept pushing the envelope, at least in intensity, and may even have matched the Stones in their psychedelic ventures when the time came to ante-up musically; they were like the Stones imbued with the more reckless and creative spirit of the Pretty Things.'-- All Music
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Country Joe and The FishSection 43
'It isn’t easy to pinpoint singular, watershed moments in a culture’s evolution – in fact, it’s a messy business, heroes and hucksters alike laying claims to history. But it is safe to say that when Electric Music For The Mind And Body arrived via Vanguard on May 11, 1967 – six weeks ahead of the fabled Summer Of Love – the pop landscape had seen nothing of its kind. Bursting forth as if it could hardly hold Young America’s collective, bottled-up repression and restlessness a second longer, Country Joe & The Fish’s super-charged debut was a game-changer, a one-of-a-kind artefact, projecting a hippy “new normal” out to an almost uncomprehending world. While certain mega-popular recording artists danced around the notion of mind expansion via recreational drug use circa 1965-67, the Fish came right out with it. “Hey partner, won’t you pass that reefer round,” singer Country Joe McDonald moaned in “Bass Strings”. In the daring “Superbird”, the Fish harboured the suggestion that Lyndon Johnson retire to his Texas ranch and, oh, drop some LSD. And then things got really weird without any lyrics at all in “Section 43”, a virtually indescribable swirl of fog and sound, a psychedelic masterpiece assembled in movements, that simulated an acid trip. “I liked the music full of holes,” McDonald said recently, “as opposed to a wash of sound.”'-- Uncut
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Strawberry Alarm ClockRainy Day Mushroom Pillow
'When the Strawberry Alarm Clock recorded their third album in 1968, they were struggling to regain the phenomenal success they'd enjoyed in late 1967, when "Incense and Peppermints" shot to the top of the charts and their debut album of the same name stopped just outside the Top Ten. Despite featuring a Top Forty single in "Tomorrow," their second album, Wake Up...It's Tomorrow had failed to chart at all. There had always been a number of musical directions at work in the band, but The World in a Seashell found them torn between their own brand of psychedelic pop and record company-instigated attempts to move them toward a softer, more orchestrated pop approach. Dissatisfied with the group's recent output, the UNI label brought in some outside writers for the album. Also added to the recipe were some string arrangements by George Tipton, who also worked in the 1960s on recordings by Sam Cooke, Jackie DeShannon, the Sunshine Company, the Monkees, Nilsson, and others. "What they probably didn't like," speculates keyboardist Mark Weitz, "was that we wrote and arranged our own songs -- some of which, the lyrics were not to their approval. [Tipton] was brought in on the third album to try our luck on recording some original songs written by popular songwriters like Carole King. I guess UNI thought it might help us get on the charts again." But as so often happens when the bean-counters try to over-egg the pudding, "eventually we found out that it practically ruined our following. The songs weren't us! They weren't strong enough! I think it hurt our image drastically -- like we were 'selling out' to the 'Suits' and going soft rock."'-- Richie Unterberger
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Joe Byrd and The Field HippiesKalyani
'Sgt. Pepper influenced everybody, and indeed was one of the arguments I used to keep the band on track (on my track, of course). Zappa was not nearly so influential, whatever his fans would like to think. In those early days he was mostly into being raunchy and offensive, so the band (during the brief time that it was still a "band" as opposed to the later stuff, which was different ensembles) didn't get much play. On the other hand, his broad brand of satire was more accessible than my more insidious (or so I like to think) kind. I never met any of those people, although I certainly heard their music. If they influenced me, it was subconscious. I've already named the groups I was aware of emulating: The Airplane, The Fish (Country Joe), and Blue Cheer; there was an interesting though obscure group called The Great Society (Grace Slick with her then husband Darby) that influenced me, and I loved The Red Crayola, although without actually trying to take stuff from them. I was pretty deliberate about exploring new territory. No, there was no "school" in which we considered ourselves. As I've said elsewhere, I regarded the avant garde art community as my peer group.'-- Joseph Byrd
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Jefferson AirplaneWon't You Try/Saturday Afternoon
'In terms of music and lifestyle, the Jefferson Airplane epitomized the San Francisco scene of the mid-to-late Sixties. Their heady psychedelia, combustible group dynamic and adventuresome live shows made them one of the defining bands of the era. Much like their contemporaries on the San Francisco scene - Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Big Brother and the Holding Company principal among them – the Airplane evolved from roots in folk and blues to become a psychedelic powerhouse and a cornerstone of the San Francisco sound. They were the first band on that scene to play a dance concert, sign a major-label record contract (with RCA), and tour the U.S. and Europe. In addition, they espoused boldly anarchistic political views and served as a force for social change, challenging the prevailing conservative mind set in “White Rabbit” and issuing a call to arms in “Volunteers.” In a sense, San Francisco became the American Liverpool in the latter half of the Sixties, and Jefferson Airplane were its Beatles.'-- collaged
*
p.s. Hey. ** MyNeighbourJohnTurtorro, Hey! It's really good to see you, man! Thanks a lot about 'ZHH'. That's really, really cool, thank you! Yeah, I think it is the first of its kind. I'm really curious to see if other novelists try their hands at it. That would super fascinating. I wonder. The rest of the Cycle will be probably a combination of text novels, i.e. 'normal' novels, one of which I've been working on for about a year already, and possibly novels created in other mediums too, if I can figure how to do that. The Cycle is in development, I guess. The stuff: Zac and I are editing the final cut of our film right now. We should have it finished pretty soon, and then we'll go to Berlin in late February to do the post-production, i.e. color and sound correction, compositing, etc., and then it will be a done deal. We're starting to create a trailer for it today. My just-mentioned text novel has been on hold for a while 'cos I'm too swamped with other work, the film and a new theater piece mostly. I'll get back to working on it later this month. Oh, were you looking in here when I mentioned that I hung out with Elias (Iceage) for a few hours when they were here doing a gig? That was really cool. He's a really amazing, great guy. And how are you? What's going on in your world? ** Sypha, Hi. I'm ever more exited to see 'Inherent Vice'. Even that mumbling problem attracts me. No, I don't know about the Comprachicos, but you can bet that I'll try to find out about them right away. Very interesting. Thank you for the alert. Really glad you eeked out the usage you needed from the USB device before it conked out. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, sir. Huysman is much less neglected over here, which won't be a surprise. ** Kier, Hi! Oh, yeah, you can't get away from Kinder Eggs over here. Cool, yeah, about the video comments. They're so sweet, for the most part, and pretty refreshing compared to the usual mean youtube gabbing. The producers want to get a trailer lickity-split to show at the Berlin Film Festival, so, I guess if we make a trailer they don't think is too 'experimental' and too 'inaccessible', which are two of their ridiculous ongoing complaints about our film, to show, I would think they'll upload it somewhere, but I don't know. I'll find out. Your powers came back! Yes! I knew they would and would any second! All is again right with the world. Yesterday we edited all day, still Scene 5, still revising and refining it, and I think we're pretty close to having the final cut, probably today sometime. We're excited about it. Half of the dialogue in the scene is in French, so we need to make subtitles for that. The sound in the scene is really complicated. It kind of cuts back and forth between beach/nature sounds, the sound of the flying drone camera, the sound of the surveillance cameras, the sound of the control room, and the sound of the inside of the bunker, which we shot in this giant, flooded parking garage. There's no dialogue at all until the very end of the scene, so it's very quiet and ambient until then, and the sound has to be carefully done so that the different 'natural' sounds create this dynamic, overheard, almost 'musical' score. And we'll almost for sure start trying to make the trailer today. We're a bit flummoxed about how to do that, but we have some vague, early ideas that we'll try out. Anyway, we did that until nighttime. Then I came home. A couple of people are interviewing me about 'ZHH' by email, so I worked on that. And other normal stuff. More editing for me today, and you? Do you go back to work today, I think? ** Kiddiepunk, Hi. That post wouldn't have even been a twinkle in my eye if it weren't for you, eagle-eyed maestro. Thank you! Yes, they're illegal in the US! Nuts! That's how the Play-doh Egg Unboxing thing started. That's the sad substitute/ protest of the Kinder Egg-deprived. ** Thomas Moronic, Awesome, deserving words there from Mr. Hester. No, yeah, true, right? About the comments. I felt really soothed by them. Really glad it had such an effect. Yeah, Kiddiepunk told me about the phenom, and I didn't expect it to be that interesting necessarily, but when I started watching the unboxing videos, there was this really strange, compelling effect. Are Kinder Eggs legal in the UK? I think they are, right? ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Yep. Makes sense that Art101 will get more commentary once it's more revealed and concrete. I think people are nervous about talking re: things before they feel like they can form a firm opinion one way or another. Well, unless the topic is politics or celebrity, in which case the idiocy comes flying out. But you don't want that for sure. ** Steevee, Hi. I always take those rumors with a massive grain of salt, but, you're right, and if he wins, and if he is, and if he decides to make that known at that moment, it will be lots of fun. ** Keaton, Wow, 'Dear Lort' is really interesting. I just glanced at it and scoped it, and it looks really awesome. The form is really exciting. Cool. I'll dig in. Everyone, there's a really cool text-based, fun, charismatic new thing over on Keaton's called 'Dear Lort' and/or 'BLASPHEMY' that I think I can guarantee will heavily reward your non-taxing time investment. ** Chris Dankland, Hi, Chris! Thank you so much about 'ZHH'! That's so awesome. Yeah, I'm really excited about it and happy, and the response has unexpectedly fantastic and smart and thoughtful. No, I didn't see the emoji summaries of Tao's books. Wow, cool, thank you a lot for the link. It's weird or maybe not weird, I guess, but I've been getting really fascinated by the extended emoji-only comments that seem to increasingly be popping up on social media and even as Amazon book reviews and stuff. Trying to decode them has super interesting. Yeah, thank you a lot! That's kind of next level right there. No, I have yet to see 'Inherent Vice'. I don't think it has played here yet unless I spaced and missed it, which is possible, especially if it got a French title that bears no resemblance to the English one, which often happens. Anyway, I'm starting to jones to see it. Oh, and thank you a billion for the blog post. I just saw it. It's amazing! I'll put it together and schedule it and let you know the launch date soon. Really thank you, man! It's incredible, and it's a really big help to me. You have a really great Wednesday. ** Misanthrope, Hi. Well, he couldn't get those eggs in the US since they'll illegal there which probably would just fuel his obsession even more, I guess? Oh, yeah, about HS. You do like that dude, don't you? If you weren't so busy, I would gently order you to make a post about him for the blog because your take on him is super interesting and sweet. ** Bill, Hi! Yeah, you'd have find the black market, or get them sneaked over to you by mail. If your desire peaks, I could send you some. Right, I so hear you about not wanting to get back into a project only to be forced away from it. That's the story of my text novel, although the things keeping me away from it are probably a little but less annoying than work/administrative commitments. Tinkering: there you go. That really helps. Low ambition fingering of the pie. ** Gary gray, I guess I know why you watched all of them since I did too without being able to explain said activity to myself much less to you. Wow, I missed those comments. Those are curious. Your day today in the hands of Godard seems a positively fated one. I'm really good, thanks. Working very hard on things of which I'm very happy and proud. Thanks a lot about 'ZHH'! Enjoy everything! ** Okay. I love '60s psychedelic music for all kinds of reasons, and I narrowed the field down to one locale and a three year time span, and this gig resulted. Enjoy, I hope. See you tomorrow.