The Psych Rock Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before I board a plane tomorrow into corporate anonymity, I have one last chance to post the last offering from the recorded Austin/Huston Texas based Psych groups. Endle St. Cloud was both the group leader's name and the group's name that produced this magnificent and cleaver proto Roxy Music styled gem that comes complete with smooth, suave, if somewhat neurotic at times, Bryan Ferry like vocals (shades of Talking Heads, too?) is an  adventure through the changing American mores of the late sixties while touching upon American music themes from Jazz,  Rhythm and Blues, Ragtime, Country Blues, Texas Swing along with nods to silent movie theme music (Rick Wakeman, did you steel something around 1970?), and even lounge music that is part pastiche and part authentic homage. This keyboard driven group was a complete head scratcher in 1970 and can only be appreciated in hindsight, with the existence of the afore mentioned artists that came later to use as a barometer.

 

Thank You All Very Much was the last album to be issued on the famous/infamous International Artists label before they inept business sense virtually bankrupt the label. This another class remaster from they Charlie label along with Lost and Found's one and only release from 1968 that nodded to Psych and Blues Rock  titled Everybody's Here and the near hit album by Bubble Puppy titled A Gathering of Promises, from 1969, which garnered a nationally charting hit with the song Hot Smoke and Sassafras.

 

The Texas Psych scene would fade away and give rise to the Cosmic Cowboy reign of Willie Nelson, et al,  from that time up till now.

 

It's time for me to get back to my professional life. I've enjoyed my visit to PA of almost a year and I'm glad, with the help of many, to leave a record of both American and British Psychedelic Rock, and to let members see the independent musical development that went on between the two, as well as their different agendas as far as being artistic, social or political statements.

 

 

 

 

 

I will close simply with this. Revolver by The Beatles is the legitimate starting point for British Psychedelic Rock that led to Progressive rock. The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators is the legitimate starting point for garage band based Punk Rock. If you truly have an objective mind, you can decide which album had a greater impact on pop music history. Cheers and Farewell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And to all you psych fans, keep on posting!

Dude, the cheese was stuck to the pizza box and had congealed with the cardboard. I hate when that happens.

 

You forgot to mention that the Forever Changes album has the best examples of psychedelic titles ever:

 

A House Is Not a Motel (Best song on the album, and if you've ever been in a struggling band and everyone is sleeping on couches, chairs, the floor, the bathtub, etc., this is what someone's mother is bound to scream in the morning)

 

Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale (You have to have been stoned at one time or another to relate to this title)

 

The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This (True story, our ice cream man sold pot from his truck -- interesting to see a bunch of long-haired teens running down the street yelling "STOP!")

 

Alone Again Or (and then he hits the bong and never finishes the sentence)

 

 

Oh, oh! My wife's yelling at me to get off the PC. Gotta run!   (Yes, dear. I'm coming.)

 

In December of 1967, The Rolling Stones released their long awaited follow up to Between The Buttons, and the public was surprised to find a very Sgt. Pepperish looking LP cover with what most considered to be the Stones' take on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heats Club Band by The Beatles. The album was actually The Stones'  own take on 1960's psychedelic rock, and perhaps because it didn't sound like a Sgt. Pepper's clone,  the public may have thought that The Stones get it wrong.

 

The album made the top 1 and 2 spots on either side of the Atlantic Ocean but was quickly put aside and very rarely played after being purchased. The Beatles also released Magical Mystery Tour as an EP in the UK and a full 'mock' stereo album in the US a the same time as Their Satanic Majesties Request was released.  The US album version of MMT, aside from featuring the fantastic Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane, it also featured the unofficial Summer Of Love anthem All You Ned Is Love.

 

Taken on it's own merits (and taking into account The Stones' legal hassles that they were involved with in the fall of 1967 in the UK), the album is truly The Stones' unique take and interpretation on the late sixties British psychedelic rock sound.

 

Mixed in with The Stones' now de rigueur use of hand percussion such as maracas and conga drums, Indian instrumentation such as sitar and tablas were added along with full orchestrations. Also added was the effective use of a mellotron by none other than the late Brian Jones.

 

This heady mix works extremely well on songs such as the hit She's a Rainbow as well as killler album tracks such as the hard riff driven Citadel and the space/raga voyage of 2000 Miles From Home, which effectively mixed the Indian inner space travel genre with Pink Floyd's extra vehicular excursions found on Floyd's album Piper at the Gates of Dawn which was released in August of 1967.

 

Treated by most psych aficionados as a novelty piece, Their Satanic Majesties Request may actually out psych Sgt. Pepper's. If you don't think, then just ask Tom Orzic. But I'm not sure anything on TSNR tops I Am The Walrus from MMT. So, it seems The Beatles are still up by one on The Stones, as far as British Psych rock goes. However, I think they were losing points to Pink Floyd by this point, and knew it.

 

 

 Did MMT steal Their Majesties' thunder?

 

This post is for Tom, who knows good British Psych.