The Psych Rock Lounge

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. 

Zim Zam Zim 2014.

After listening to the jungle percussion filled title track , you will immediately notice that Zim Zam Zim is  a collection of songs that are both adequate to Arthur Brown's own style as well as cleverly crafted in order to adapt themselves to the issues of the 21st century. 'Want To Love' opens this with a beautiful  brass section, and Brown's flawless, ageless vocals . 'Jungle Fever''s is a simple blues stomp which is enhanced by wildlife sounds that collide with eerie Tom Waits-like vocals. The second track "The Unknown" sports a hypnotic reggae vibe that sends us straight into the familiar early New Orleans Voodoo Psych of Dr. John.

'Muscle of Love' shows  again how brilliant Brown's vocals can be even at his advanced stage of his life and career and sound quite reminiscent of Captian Beefheart's lower ranges as well as an occasional old time shriek thrown in for good measure. The song itself is about the bliss and harmony the world could obtain from never ending simultaneous organisms. Album closer 'The Formless Depths of Zim Zam Zim comes as an unsettling piece of music, complete with dark, spell-like lyrics and primal, tribal sounds (more Dr. John?) that seem to come full circle with the albums opening track. 

The God of Hell Fire is still among us in all his insane, but musically well executed glory. And if you can't have fun listening to this album, then you might just might be dead.

Edited by SteveG - February 10 2015 at 10:43

dr wu23 wrote: SteveG wrote:   Also, there's no cause to argue where Psychedelic rock originated. As your new to PA, I suggest you read my past posts in this thread on Psych pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators and The Moving Sidewalks, who both originated out of Texas.  The same holds true for The Red Crayola, Lost and Found, and Bubble Puppy, who also hailed from Texas.  I merely inferred that the 13th Floor Elevators were influential in turning the previously Folk oriented California Bay Area bands electric by there touring the area in 1966.     That's an eye opener to me since I had always assumed it originated on the West Coast around San Fran or LA with the mixture of drugs and revolutionary ideas. I would not have thought of Texas for obvious reasons... being such a conservative state , uh... politically.

It's always been difficult for Americans from the mid west and east coast to visualize The California Bay area as anything other than the organic birth place of West coast acid rock. It's part of the reason that I do so much exposition regarding the Texas bands that influenced and helped to convert the Bay Area bands from Folk fixtures in coffee houses into Psychedelic Rock stalwarts. (A British electric group the Beatles also had a bit an influence as well.)  

Edited by SteveG - February 09 2015 at 10:03

Schnauser:

Edited by SteveG - February 08 2015 at 13:45

KingCrInuYasha wrote: SteveG wrote: Why early American Prog sounds like this: ...   Taking the advice of both their manager/producer and a top record executive, The Vanilla Fudge made one the most bizarre outré albums of the late 1960s. Combining studio improvisation, sound collages, excepts of classical music, and short reworkings of Beatles songs into free form whole, all of this was interspersed with snippets of historical sound excerpts such as speeches by JFK and Hitler. The result of all this effort was the album The Beat Goes On. Vanilla Fudge: The Beat Goes On. As far out as you could get in 1968. Trashed by both critics and fans, it remains a black mark on the otherwise stellar work produced by Vanilla Fudge after the release of this debacle.   ...     I found that record at my local record store for five bucks. The second side is a pretentious attempt to imitate Frank Zappa, while a good chunk the first side is a silly, yet harmless, Disney-esque attempt to document the history of Western Music from Mozart to the Beatles. I think the first side had potential and had it been a bit more polished, it would have been one of their best pieces.

I not a personal hater of The Beat Goes On as I, like you, feel that's it's execution was clumsy and not well thought out. (Most of the bands' music and studio chatter was adlibbed on the spot.) I was merely reporting it's overall reception by a wide majority critics and fans at the time of it's release. Jon Anderson in particular actually likes many aspects of the album. But he never states that he likes all of it either.

Edited by SteveG - February 08 2015 at 15:04

SteveG wrote:   Also, there's no cause to argue where Psychedelic rock originated. As your new to PA, I suggest you read my past posts in this thread on Psych pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators and The Moving Sidewalks, who both originated out of Texas.  The same holds true for The Red Crayola, Lost and Found, and Bubble Puppy, who also hailed from Texas.  I merely inferred that the 13th Floor Elevators were influential in turning the previously Folk oriented California Bay Area bands electric by there touring the area in 1966.

I would call you a hypocrite, but considering that I've probably been guilty of preaching at some point in my life, such a claim would be rendered null and void. I guess it's human nature.

Also, for a guy who hates it when people preach to others, jacksiedanny sure likes preaching.

Sound effects are mere technique that could be used to evolk psychedelic  experience. In DSOM you are basically talking the  short VCS3 segment and the short intro  which IS dark & psychedelic in my opinion (BUT immediately goes into LAID BACK.)

To  mimick a psychedelic (LSD) experience, sound  manipulation/ studio tricks are much more important.
To give an example: in Sergeant Pepper "Good Morning" is chock full of animal sound effects. Too bad its not psychedelic in the least - its the opposite: rather humerous. (Now if it were the sounds of animals in torment, like in a certain  Jugoslavian lp, then maybe...) Now take "A Day In The Life". That IS powerful  sound manipulation (and the ever-upward pitch is very suggestive of a trip high.)


Now technique-wise what IS important in mimicking a hallucinogenic experience is MOVEMENT OF SOUND because it is very important to stress DISORIENTATION. (Muffling, distorting of sound ,as well). Granted Parsons is  good at this panning etc.
BUT, equally important in this context is acheiving disorientation through COMPOSITION - specifically altering focus by quirky, ever-changing composition, surges, lurches, textural changes...break apart (and possible reforming) of conventional structure.
Now, what is it we have with DSOM? A straight rocker -"Money" Two main pieces , "Breathe" and that track that follows "Money" (I forget the title now) that are gentle, light pop - nigh ballads. Such do nowise constitute psych, so nix a major part of the lp on this alone.

The other point - verbose lps do not make psych. Psych has little message. Put message in it and you have clear  cerebral thought -which tripping is not about. Moreso Waters is at his usual here , PROSELYTIZING/PREACHING; telling us what to think - a definite no-no in freeform, self-unravelling-mind world of psych.

Speaking of freeform - compositionally-speaking, what is very important in suggesting  expanding consciousness via music, is EXTENDED improvisation of which DSOM has basically none outside of the mind-floating-suggesting "Great Gig In The Sky" (which is not near enough for this purpose.) This is why jams and long electronic Schultzian-like things are conductive to psychedelic experience.

DSOM is carefully/highly CONSTRUCTED  music, gentle vocal harmonies anorl- the antithesis of real psych (and I'm talking real psych - not Hollywood like Strawberry Alarmclock etc popsike.)

jacksiedanny wrote: ... DSOM is neither spacerock nor psychedelic. ...