This
blog is an extension of the Psych Trail Mix fanzine that had a run of
10 printed issues from Winter 2008 through Spring 2016. The Psych Trail
Mix archive of full, free PDF files of the printed zine will continue
to be hosted at this link. Print copies remain of issue #10 only, see the main PTM page to purchase copies.
_________________________________________
01-19-2024
- Flying Through The Ether: Z Sylver On Her Life & Times With Helios Creed
Most of
you reading this blog know by now how much Chrome & Helios Creed
are a big part of my musical muse. I mean the ROOT of this website is
HELIOS CREED TRIBUTE SITE! Helios Creed is a legendary psychedelic
guitarist who created some of the most out-there, otherworldly,
mind-blowing psychedelic acid-punk sounds EVER. Helios is a true
original, he can NOT be imitated. CHROME are THE kings of tripped-out,
alien music that also ROCKS hard - a feat that few of those in the
genre could accomplish - getting REALLY weird but at the same time ROCKING HARD. Arguably, the best Chrome years were when Helios
was in the band ('77 - '83), after he left it just didn't ROCK hard enough for
me... That's not to say that what Damon Edge was doing wasn't
interesting, but that fuzzed-out, mind-melting guitar of Helios Creed was
one of the key elements to the true Chrome sound for me. Helios left
Chrome and continued a solo career, putting out loads of great records,
even up to present day. This post has been in-the-works for quite a a while, and I've
wanted to pick this person's brain for many years. She was around
during the hey-day of solo Helios Creed, the AMREP
label days and
beyond, hell... even BEFORE... We're talkin' well over a decade of
recording albums and touring with the man. Responsible for many of the
tripped-out synthesizer sounds and samples that created the signature
other-worldly atmosphere of those early Helios Creed solo albums and live shows, I'm speaking of the great Z
SYLVER!
Z was cool enough to sit down and access her read-only-memory banks for
an exclusive interview for Psych Trail Mix Blog, enjoy!
What are your earliest memories of getting into music?
My mom
was a blues singer and biker lady who played guitar, so I grew up
around a lot of music. She told me I used to kick her belly from the
inside in time to any music she was listening to, so before I was born.
I guess my first concert was at the Albuquerque Civic Auditorium and it
was Jefferson Airplane. I think I was, I don’t know… maybe 2? There was
a lot of music, because I was born right in the middle of the
psychedelic rock explosion of the 60’s-70’s. My mom was an original
flower child, from the hippie movement, so a lot of amazing music. She
played music all through my childhood. I even sang a couple times with
her. She was always doing music or there was band practice, I grew up
around a lot of music being made. She had a band called Highway 33, but
it just stayed local.
How did you first meet and come into contact with Helios?
Oh,
I was … [ laughter ] um, so I was a young punk on the streets, living in
a squat around the corner from the On Broadway and Mabuhay Gardens in
San Francisco. It was a pretty seedy scene and we would panhandle on
the Broadway strip for drugs, burritos, and booze, just being a part of
the punk scene. That was in 1984 or '85, I think? Punks were pouring in
from the suburbs and we were all living together as a family in
abandoned buildings, taking care of each other, making sure no one
messed with anybody, looking freaky but actually providing an extremely
safe community for each other. Um, it was a haven for free expression,
music, and street art. The night I first met Helios, I was hanging out
in what’s known as Piss Alley alongside the On
Broadway, a central hang out spot for the hardcore punk scene. I was
cutting this girl’s hair into a Mohawk and everyone was hanging out
drinking and such. She was straight out of the suburbs and had long
hair down to her butt. As I was giving her a haircut, this guy came
tumbling down the stairs and landed at my feet. He was like, “fuck that
fucker, he won’t give me my equipment or my money, so I punched him in
the face! That guy’s an asshole!” He was talking about the club owner,
Dirk Dirksen, and we were like, “yeah, he is an asshole, he never lets
us in the club!”(of course, we were under age punk kids, so no wonder
he didn’t let us in) and H was like, “I’m fucking Helios Creed, what
does he think?!” And I said, “Dude, you’re so awesome!” And then he was
like, “Yeah, from Chrome,” and I said, “from Chrome?!” Because there
was a record store next to the club called The Rock Shop and they
had just played Chrome. I’d never heard them before, that was the first
time, and when I heard them I said to Dave, the record store owner,
“Oh,
my God! It’s like the music I never knew that I knew, like music I had
always been listening to but never heard before," and Dave who turned
me onto Chrome was like, “yeah, he’s coming here and Chrome’s pretty
intense,” and it was the next night or so that he was there. When he
came down the stairs, I thought… ”Man, he’s so wasted and fucking
hilarious!” We wouldn’t run into each other again until years later. By
then, our punk roots were in the rear view mirror, and we were headlong
into psychedelics and space rock. We got together later, in 1988.
Helios lived in a school bus and parked along the panhandle in San
Francisco. He used to come buy weed from my roommates and that’s how we
met for the second time. After hanging out together at some of his
shows and around Haight street, I ended up moving into the bus with
him.
I was pretty smitten back then. The bus was built up like a schooner
inside. It had a full galley-style kitchen, a master bedroom with
swinging saloon doors, and a table that could also fold out into a
guest bed. The bus was fully equipped! You could even hook up a shower
in the doorway. We also had a TV/VCR combo for watching movies and of
course the biggest boom box we could find. [ laughter ] In 1989, Sub
Pop asked H to come up and make a record in Seattle and the
band didn’t want to go, so me and H went up in the bus and lived in
Seattle at a place called Gasworks Park. That’s when he recorded the
album "The Last Laugh," which I’m not on, but I helped with lyrics and
all
kinds of stuff. There’s a single for "The Last Laugh" with my laughter
on
it. H is driving the bus in this photo(showing photo). I look so young in the photo! I wish I had
more pictures from inside the bus. We stopped at a rest stop when the
photo was taken. Yeah, I loved that moment. He liked to tell me stories,
[ laughter ], I liked to listen. That’s the bus we lived in. It was painted
the colors of the Sante Fe Super Chief train engine. H loved trains,
still does. I’d call it an obsession. Our friend David Larew was with
us, he was taking photos. We took David Larew to San Francisco with us, we wanted to get out of
Seattle. There wasn't a great scene for anything but grunge up there at
the time and we all missed SF.
How
did you come to being invited to join him onstage playing synthesizer
and how long had you been playing synth prior to joining him?
When
I was in high school I played around with the bass a bit, but I never
really had a chance to get good at it, and then I got into keyboards and
synthesizers and I really loved them, but I didn’t have one, and I was
too wild to ever sit in one place long enough to practice and learn my
instruments. I just listened to a lot of music in the 70’s and 80’s.
I’ve always been very into music and the people who make it.
When I separated from my first husband Jill St. Jacques, he had a
sequential circuit keyboard, a Prophet 5, and when we broke up, he gave
it to me. And then when Helios would go out on tour, he needed a
keyboard player, and I had just the right keyboard for the job. So I
guess that’s really synchronistic! So, I started playing live and just
whatever he wanted me to play that was
already recorded, and then slowly I developed into my own player and writer.
H did all the keyboards before I came in. So, I was playing his parts
for "The Last Laugh" and any records prior to that. "Lactating Purple"
was the first record that I was on where I really began to write my own
keyboard parts. By the time we got to "Kiss to the Brain," I was
writing, creating samples and using effects all over the place. Did I
mention vocals and lyrics? Yeah, I did those too!
What was your equipment lineup/your setup when playing with Helios?
In
the beginning, I played the Prophet 5, but it wasn’t very roadworthy, so
I bought an Ensoniq rackmount sampler and sampled the Prophet to play,
as well as many other synths and samples that I made. Later on, I bought
a Korg Prophecy and you hear a lot of that on later records like "Nugg
The Transport." I also ran my keyboards through effects; a Morley pedal
for distortion, along with another distortion (Digitech) and delay. I
would control some of H’s vocal effects from my rack setup, and I also
played lead and rhythm samples of his guitar sounds just to really
confuse our audience and add dimension to the sound.
Lactating Purple would be the first record you were on with Helios, can you recall your memories of those recording sessions?
Honestly,
we were so high when making that record that I barely remember
anything, except that it was awesome! That was my first time playing
with Paul Della Pelle (drums), and Paul Kirk was on bass. We parked the bus
outside the studio, Razor’s Edge, so we didn't have far to go to get to
the studio. I left a candle burning in the bus and when we came out to
it, there was a padlock on the door and a note for us to go to the cop
shop. The cops had broken into the bus, put out the candle and
padlocked it! H busted out one of the door panels and we slid in and
drove away to park somewhere else. Bwahahaha!! I do remember the
beautiful sounds that were created over those few nights and writing my
first keyboard part with Paul Della Pelle and naming the song, "Amenti."
They were crazy, good times! We recorded "Kiss To The Brain" at Hyde
Street Studios, "Lactating Purple" at Razor's Edge, and most of the
records that came after that we
recorded in our home studios, one in Hawaii, and one in Northern
California. For "Kiss To The Brain," [I have to check the facts but]
I believe that we used the same mixing board that was used for Pink
Floyd’s "Dark Side of the Moon". There were a lot of psychedelics in the
studio for "Kiss To The Brain," per the title. The line up was Paul Kirk
on bass and Delle Pelle on drums and it’s a masterpiece. I love that
album so much! Krystl Chamber, one of our best friends, she’s also
doing vocals with me on that album, so that is special. I think we spent
about 72 hours probably, and it’s cool when you go in the studio, you
all go in and you lay everything down together, but then, for the next
couple days, it was just me and H. Mixing, producing, saying ‘I think
this should go there,' laying a couple extra tracks here and there on
things, stretching and splicing tape, so we would finish them out.
After that, with "Kiss To The Brain," we were really trying to create
this ‘ancient - modern’ sound, so I did a lot of pipe organ stuff, but
also having it sound futuristic too. The next album was "Planet X" and a
new badass bass player, Chris McKay. Some of my fondest memories in
life will always be hanging out with Paul and Chris on tour. I love
those guys! There’s always been a huge alien theme running
through our music all the way from Chrome on. But Planet X was more of
a direct focus. Planet X is a planet, they call it Nibiru. And
supposedly the sun is blocking it, because the sun’s so bright we can’t
see it. It’s debatable whether it’s real or not. So, yeah, a lot of
alien stuff.
Do you have a favorite Helios Creed record that you played on?
I think "Planet
X" is my favorite, and then "Kiss To The Brain," and then "Cosmic Assault," I
also really love "Colors Of Light" - it’s hard because I love them all so
much. "Cosmic Assault" was titled because we always try to pull in
celestial events to our music, and it was made during the time when the
Shoemaker Levy 9 comet was impacting into Jupiter. You could actually
see where it hit. "Colors Of Light" is a reference to Timothy Leary going
to prison for advocating the use of LSD and other psychedelics.
Delving a bit deeper into the last question, any specific songs you’re most fond of and why?
I’d say "Kurt
Zombie" is one of my favorite songs and god I have so many, it’s so
hard, it’s like they’re my children and I love them all so much and
there are so, so many songs. So, I did like 13 albums, well I’m on 13
albums, they’re not all full albums. Some are just on compilations, but
yeah, there are so many songs. I think "Plato’s Cave," "Anubis Warpus,"
"Kiss To The Brain," "XL-35," those are some of my favorites. And then
also
there are my favorites to play and my favorites to hear. I especially
love playing "The Federation" and "World Infiltration III-The Dragon"
live.
Some songs might not be as exciting to listen to as they are to play
live with the energy of a live audience. Playing live shows was
just phenomenal, nothing beats it!
What was it like touring with Helios? Can you share some wild, funny, amusing road stories?
We really
liked to visit interesting places on tour, and me and H would pick out
things to see on the tour because you’re living on the road, you want
to see cool stuff. We went to Meteor Crater, and Borrego State Park. We
wrote "Anubis Warpus" out in that desert. We camped there overnight in
this area that’s completely prehistoric looking and Paul Della Pelle,
our drummer, had this cymbal that was just a big brass thing, and he got
a beat with that, we did some shrooms and we found this cool wall
that went up like this, not a full cave, but like this and then we had
a fire, and we were just seeing the lights flicker, and we were just
jamming out, so we wrote "Anubis Warpus" out there and that was really
cool. One time me and H climbed Picacho Peak in Arizona. We
climbed all the way to the top! We took some really great acid up there
to give our latest album "Kiss To The Brain," the acid test. You know how
everything used to be underwater in that desert. It’s an ancient sea
bed. When you’re up there and you’re tripping, it looks like you’re at
the bottom of the ocean. So, it was mind blowing, and it was so cool
because there was an area where everybody goes, but there’s a little
tiny peak and if you go this way, there’s nobody there, and we sat at
the top and just tripped and we could just see all the little white and
pink hat people way down there and you could just see for miles, it was
so vast and you could just feel so ancient, you could feel time slowing
down. That was really incredible. Touring with Helios Creed was an
amazing experience! The fans were the coolest, weirdest people and they
would travel for miles just to see us play. In Europe, our shows were a
lot bigger because there’s a lot more weirder and cooler people there.
So we played small clubs here, but in Europe we played large venues.
When we toured Europe we were on another level, so that was so fun.
Can
you tell the story of how you and Helios ended up as extras in the
Willie Nelson/Kris Kristofferson movie "Pair Of Aces"? Were you guys
living in Texas at that time?
We went out to
hang out with the Butthole Surfers, but they were mostly gone once we
got out there, always on tour. We moved there after we lived in
Seattle. We drove our bus out there and rented a small ranch outside of
Austin and there really wasn’t much going on there, so I was trying to
find work, and I got work as an extra in the movie "Pair Of Aces" with
Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. We were on the shoot all day, and
they kept going in their bus to smoke out. Helios and I wanted to have
a look in their fancy tour bus, but they kept shutting the curtains on
us, so they could get stoned in private, haha! As an extra, I played a
biker chick that was in the bar where Kristofferson came in to get
information on a suspect. The film was a cop/grifter theme. H was just
standing around because he had driven me to the shoot and the director
saw him and said, “Hey dude, do you want to join the crowd of thugs?
We’ll pay you to just stand in the back of the crowd and look thugly!”
I don’t think H was very flattered, but the pay was great.
[ laughter ]
What have you been up to for the last 20 years or so?
I moved
outside of Detroit, Michigan when my son was born and we’ve been living
here for 18 years. I went to college to get both my child development
degree and my art degree. I spent many years working as a special
education para pro until I couldn’t hack it anymore and went back to
school for art, specifically painting, which I have been doing most of
my life off and on.
Check
out the artwork below created by Z in 2023 (click thumbnails for full-size)! Also, read up on the
meaning of Z's artwork, specifically the below three pieces in this PDF
doc - The Trials Of Transfiguration
Also, please check out Z Sylver's website!
MASSIVE THANKS to Z Sylver for opening up and regaling us with tales of her days with Helios Creed!
Big thanks to Michelle Curry for transcribing the interview!
It'll
be hard to top that interview here at the PTM Blog! I hope you enjoyed
Z's history and stories as immensely as I did. Closing out this post
with some album reviews as per usual... Until next time.. Happy
trails....
Television - Marquee Moon (1977)
I was a bit of
a late bloomer in turning on to this record, but recently delved into
this gem....finally in my late 30's. Television came out of the
NYC punk scene in the late 70's and here is their debut record,
recorded in
'76 in NYC and released in February of '77. They get slapped with
the 'punk' label quite often, but this is a punk album where the band
can actually play their instruments! They were leaps and bounds
above many bands in the scene when it came to that. Apparently, Brian
Eno produced some demos as early as '74, but Tom Verlaine wasn't
satisfied with the "cold" sound of them, he wanted a BIGGER rock
'n roll GUITAR sound, like a Rolling Stones album, so they enlisted
Andy Johns, who was a veteran who had produced the Stones, Zeppelin and
more. Opens with the killer "See No Evil," with its jumpy,
frenetic pace and delicious jangly guitar riffs, a standout for sure.
"Venus" is one of my favorites, one of the more mellow tracks on
here, apparently about ingesting some psychedelic drugs and walking the
streets of downtown NYC, and the lyrics would support that; 'You
know it's all like some new kind of drug, My senses are sharp and my
hands are like gloves, Broadway looked so medieval..... Dig the mesmerizing, almost trance-inducing bright-tone
guitar work on this one, it evokes a vibe that works so well with the
theme of the song. "Friction" is a another standout, with its nervous,
jumpy sort of pace and the jazz-like interplay of the guitars. One of
the things that shines on this album is the fantastic guitar work and
the guitar TONES, they really pierce through the speakers nicely as you
crank this baby. The album title track "Marquee Moon"
is of course a
centerpiece here, a 10+ minute epic, building up more and more with
fantastic guitar work until finally reaching an ectstacy crescendo of
epic proportions! FYI - best sounding cd version is the original cd
from Elektra, 1989 1098-2. Don't sleep on this one like I did!
The Perth County Conspiracy - Kanada (1975)
Just when I
thought I'd heard all the creme de la creme of PCC, a friend of mine
hooked me up with a quality vinyl transfer of an original pressing of this
album and the FINAL album of the PCC's discography. Released in 1975 also as 'Break Out To Berlin,' this was
recorded at Amiga Studios in East Berlin representing Canada at the Fifth International
Festival of Political Song In East Germany. The opener, “Old Ways/Hurray For The Farmer”
is a great one that emits PCC vibes all-around. A song by Cedric Smith
& poet Milton Acorn that tells of pining for the ‘old ways’ when
the ‘neighbor lent a hand and you work close to the land.’ Also,
praising the farmer as the ‘backbone of the country.’ This album still
preaches the ‘back to the land’ ideals the band is known for and it was
hitting all the right spots for me when I began to spin this. Like I
said, I thought I heard the best, but I’ll go as far as saying this
album is fantastic and stands with the band’s other works. “Does Not
Exists” is the band’s true masterpiece and in a league of its own, but
this is not one to sleep on. The musicianship is fantastic with some
fiddle and fantastic piano work on several of the tracks. Richard
Keelan’s “Heart of The Beast”
is a standout track with a great groove to it, Keelan waxing poetic
wisdom with the line ‘truth feeds the soul.’ Cedric Smith's “Memory Stains/Lining Up To Go”
is a story of older times, harder times of days of the old, and this
one comes with the delicate vocals of Dorit Cheyne accompanying
Cedric’s theatrical/deep vocal style, a contrast that comes through
quite nicely. “Live With Me On Earth”
is a delight, again with the combination of Cedric and Dorit’s
male/female vocals. I gaze outside at a snowstorm as I type this
review, the fluffy white blanketing everything… This song is a fitting
soundtrack to the view of the storm, especially those echoey vocals of
Dorit there at the end… ahhhh hits the spot! “Military Spectatorship”
puts the theatrical style of the band’s live show on display, I even
get a little Incredible String Band vibe here…. This is a satirical
take on the military, a quick, humorous little ditty… “The Pioneer Song”
is another great one with Cedric and Dorit joining forces on vocals.
Possibly my favorite cut on the whole record is the closer, Richard
Keelan’s “Voice Of The Wilderness,”
a song that speaks of heading out into the wilderness to right our
course. This song features some beautiful piano and what sounds like
most everyone joining Richard on vocals at times. Fantastic lead
guitar/piano interplay as well. What a brilliant way to close not only
the record but PCC's entire catalogue. The last several years I’ve
found myself hitting trails and the woods and streams to sort of clear
my head as life and this planet have been quite heavy for various
reasons both personal and on a larger global scale, this song's message
helps bring you back to base, a life-guiding message on what to do in
these times… Whaddaya waitin’ for bub? Get-to steppin’ and get out on
the trails and to the streams, end the doom-scrolling on your ‘smart’
phone and get back to the REAL… Oops… sorry I’ve gone off on a rant
here… Anyway, DO NOT sleep on this one, I was pleasantly surprised when
I heard this and added another PCC gem to my collection just in time to
get me through this dark, cold winter.
*NOTE: there are two versions
of this album, one released on Rumour entitled 'Break Out To Berlin,'
and one on Amiga entitled 'Kanada,' which is the superior pressing and
the transfer I've been blessed with for this review
Perth County Conspiracy - s/t (1971/2018)
This
collection of songs was recorded in August of 1970 just mere weeks
after PCC recorded their magnum opus "Does Not Exist" on Columbia
Records. This was a recording done for CBC that was released in 1971 on
a very limited (500 max) pressing. Be forewarned - this is way
less elaborate/cohesive piece of conceptual art compared to "Does Not
Exist". These are all stripped down songs, but they stand very well on
their own. Apparently, they were a bit short on material and some tunes
were even jammed-out and created on a lunch break! Luckily, given its
very limited release, Richard Morton Jack's Flashback Records reissued
this in 2018 straight from the master tapes and it sounds fantastic.
Enjoy this one for what it is - an
enjoyable, relaxing listen of top-notch folk songs given the treatment
of that wonderful interplay/combo of Richard Keelan's more floaty
vocal streams and Cedric Smith's more theatrical style. I think their
cover of "Hurdy Gurdy Man" is possibly my favorite cover of the old
Donno song and perhaps the best cover in existence of that tune.
Another top-notch cover is the closer here of Dylan's "I Shall Be
Released." "Lace And Cobwebs" is another favorite of mine, a sort of
floaty Donovan-esque folk number that speaks of the joys of the sun. I
imagine Cedric playing this one solo w/an acoustic guitar outside of
one of their farms in Canada on a glorious pastorally-peaceful,
glowing-sunny day. Keelan's "Mr Truthful Licks" is a also a catchy
little ditty with a cool, hippy sort of sentiment to it. "Welcome
Surprise" is a delightful listen with Richard Keelan's floaty/earthy
vocals. "Take Your Time" includes what we love that often pops up on
their masterpiece DNE - the vocal interplay between Richard and Cedric,
works lovely here in a message urging the listener to slow down and
mellow out. "So Many Things"
is another standout, with some delicious
finger-pickin' guitar and some floaty, ethereal flute as well.
Honestly, all the songs are great, and I immensely enjoy this entire
record. Don't go into it expecting another "Does Not Exist" and I
suspect you'll feel the same.
Hawkwind - Space Ritual [50th Anniversary Box] - (1973/2023)
They've
opened up the vaults of the mighty Hawkwind for what is arguably one of
the greatest live albums EVER, the Space Ritual
tour! The options for
the set were either a 2-disc version with the 'Remaster' of the
original album and the 'New Stereo Remix,' or a 10 cd plus Blu-Ray set
that contains the previously-mentioned remaster and the new stereo
remix AND the addition of THREE previously unreleased COMPLETE gigs
from Brixton, Liverpool, and Sunderland. Also included in
the larger set - a 68-page booklet w/new essay and unseen photos, as
well as a replica of
the 1972 SR Tour Program. A couple things to note here... One is that
the 'new stereo mix' by Stephen W Tayler of the original album includes
UNEDITED versions of "Brainstorm," "Time We Left This World Today," and
"You Shouldn't Do That." The
shows all come from the master-tapes and
have fantastic dynamic range! Thank the psych godz that no
amateurish techniques were applied to these historical documents and
the recordings weren't
brickwalled into oblivion, so if you decide to fork out the cash, you
can be assured of that. As far as the
'new remix' of the original album, I don't see it as a "revelation"
like
many reviewers claim - maybe I need more listening sessions? In doing a
direct A/B comparison, I'd say that my old 2-disc set of SR from 2001
sounds a bit more in-your-face, where the new remix is a bit more
subtle... I do notice a few things that are more audible in the new
remix that I don't hear as much in the old set I have, but by the same
token, the old 2-disc set I have has some more things up-front that
seem a bit buried in the new remix.. BUT the remix contains UNEDITED
versions of the three songs in bold above. Anyway, with all this said,
you
might be asking yourself if this set is overkill, speaking of the 10
CD/Blu-Ray set. I'd answer that, NO, it's not too much. This is a
LEGENDARY era of Hawkwind and a tour/set that is unmatched to date for fans of psychecelic space/acid-rock.
There are differences in the previously unreleased gigs that vary
enough to make it worth owning it all. Personally, it's not overkill
for me. I dim the lights, crank this baby on my speakers and it's like
I'm shot right into space.... DO NOT PANIC! I now have extra, UNEDITED
shows from this tripped-out HW experience to enjoy.
I must include this great article from Melody Maker that is mentioned in the essay of the 10-disc/Blu-Ray set. Enjoy!
_________________________________________
04-07-2023
- Back To The Land: The Mystical, Bewitching Psych Of The Perth County Conspiracy (part 2)
I managed
to get another post up within a reasonable amount of time and not a
YEAR! Yay! Less procrastination has been a goal of mine ever since
moving
into my new place here. I've rambled on about this in the last post a bit,
but must
say again how infinitely BETTER life is out in-the-country, so many
less fucking idiots surrounding you, and more SPACE to BREATHE. Now
that I'm a bit more settled in after a few additional upgrades to our
new abode, it's even more like a breath of fresh air, NOW 6 months
after moving in can the true decompression begin. I'm PSYCHED to
present this post in a continuation of the previous one
on The Perth County Conspiracy! Again, their "Does Not Exist" album
came at such a perfect, pivotal time of my life, when I was striving for
peace and solitude, eventually working my way to a more 'pastoral
peacefulness' as the band's Richard Keelan did when he escaped urban
Detroit for open Canadian farmland. I've gone on a similar
journey/quest and have landed myself in similar pastures, surrounded by
farmland and an overall friendlier vibe and lifestyle compare to the
urban ugliness I dwelled in previously... So I feel a kinship with
these folks and what they were trying to do and the lifestyle they were
out to achieve. I thought it would be hard to top the interview with
Richard Keelan in my last post, but I think with the combination of PCC
goodies and another amazing interview with this post that we'll come damn near close! Let's start off
with an interview that I gave with Connie Keelan, former wife of
Richard and co-conspirator. Connie was around at the earliest inception
of PCC, she designed the multi-colored iconic blanket/album artwork
that dons the cover of "Does Not Exist," she also designed the album
artwork for the fantastic psych-folk album "Gypsy People," by friends
of PCC Jan & Lorraine. Here's my interview with Connie followed by
some other PCC treats. Enjoy!
To start, can you just talk about your overall recollection of that time with the band and people involved?
That’s a big question. Looking back to 1969 when we first landed in
Canada I was a new mother, mostly focused on nursing and raising my
infant daughter in the swirl and chaos of lots of music, new people,
and new surroundings. We were young and energetic and wanted to change
the world for the better. There was so much going on and we were living
our back-to-the-land ideals. Most of my memories are of being
surrounded by music, musicians, visiting friends at different
farmhouses, gardening, canning peaches, tomatoes, pickles, jams and
jellies. And so much driving the distances on country roads of SW
Ontario to get from place to place. That was a huge adjustment after
Detroit freeways and everything being relatively close. I must say I
missed Detroit radio, jazz and classical stations hosted by friends,
Motown at the beginning of its heyday, and the lively music scene all
around the Motor City. And sad to leave family, friends, and career
behind. I was so surprised when at my daughter’s first medical visit
here, that there was no charge. Free health care! That was, and still
is…huge! Especially now as the years roll on. But the fresh air of the
countryside was, and still is, an inspiration. We lived with Cedric and
his then wife, Joan when we first arrived in Canada in June 1969. One
treasured memory is of waking up before dawn each morning while nursing
Caitlin, hearing the quiet clip-clop of horses’ hooves, then looking
out the window to see an Old Order Mennonite man in his horse-drawn
buggy, appearing out of the mist on his way to market. This dawn
vignette felt other-worldly, private, and sacred somehow. Often various
friends and musicians would drop by with their instruments and
“home-grown” for visits and to jam. As for people, there were so many
creative loving souls that welcomed us, and sadly many no longer with
us. The sixties were a chaotic time for relationships. For some it was
the best time of their lives. For some, not so much. For me it was a
mix of both. Overall, it was a time of adjusting as couples broke up,
changed partners, or just moved on.
Did
you sit in on the recording sessions for "Does Not Exist"? If so, can
you tell me about the atmosphere of the recording sessions and any
memories or stories you can think of from it?
No, I didn’t sit in on the recording sessions for DNE, though I had
sat in on the sessions for The Spikedrivers. What impressed me most
about those earlier experiences was how the professional session
musicians conducted themselves. They arrived on time, sat down in
front of their sheet music, did their job to perfection, then packed up
and left when the session was over. From what little I recall hearing
about the DNE sessions, they went quite well. There was much excitement
about the pending release. Richard has pretty much detailed what
happened next.
Can you recall what the band, Richard, Cedric.. thought of the album when they initially heard the recording?
Everyone, Richard, Cedric, band members, fans, were quite excited about
it all and had high hopes for its success. We were all on a positive
wavelength, flying high.
What are your memories of the songwriting process?
In
1970 we lived in an old farmhouse in Motherwell that overlooked the
Thames River. It was a beautiful, picturesque house that I loved
dearly, at the end of a rural winding dirt road. Strawberries grew in
the garden and delicious mint grew at a wellspring that fed the river
deep in the valley across the road. I’ve never tasted mint this sweet.
I still have plants grown from cuttings of that mint here in my garden
that I use for tea and blender drinks. My memories of Richard writing
are of him in the little room upstairs at his desk in that house. He
was always writing, writing, writing, and more writing. As you must
know, writing can be a lonely task in a way. Then there were times when
Richard and Cedric would get together with their instruments and toss
ideas and lines back and forth, just the natural part of the sharing
experience. We’d usually be together at one or other of our rented
farmhouses and it was just an organic process. The guitars would come
out after a meal, then likely a smoke, and there would be the relaxing
creative time…
Can
you talk about the front cover that you designed for "Does Not Exist"?
Did you also stitch together that cover quilt that's on there? And can
you talk about the design, did you have complete freedom on the design
exclusively, or was there input from band members?
Yes,
the musicians trusted me, and I pretty much had freedom with the
design. I’d done a lot of commercial design work previously. I was also
the photographer with my Rollei twin lens reflex on a tripod at the
farm where everyone congregated in front of the barn at Embro. It was
an “event” so to speak. I was one of the group of women who met
numerous times and worked on the quilt at “The V”, the farm where
Cedric and Joan lived at the time, just outside of Tavistock. Some of
the scraps of fabric were gleaned from offcuts of costume-making at the
Stratford Festival Theatre. Those were the days when worn and used
costumes were sent to the dump. People would go dumpster-diving and
come up with great items. That was when the theatre was in the red. Now
they have a huge warehouse to store costumes, and offer warehouse
tours, rentals to other theatres, and occasional sales.
Are you one of the people on that front cover?
I’m
not in the picture, but our daughter Caitlin is the baby on the right
in the picture sitting on Richard’s shoulders. I can name everyone in
the picture and miss many, some of whom are no longer with us.
Do you still have the original artwork for that?
Yes I believe I still have the art work filed somewhere.
You
also designed the cover artwork for Jan & Lorraine's album. Could
you talk about that and you and the PCC's association with them?
Yes, I have an
emotional attachment to that album cover. I finished the work on it for
our dear friends Jan Hendin and Lorraine LeFevre on the day before
Caitlin was born in April 1969. It was truly a work of love for friends
I admired. Richard and I had a close relationship with them when we
lived in Detroit. We were always at each other’s homes, or clubs where
they played, or where Richard happened to be playing, or on tour
somewhere. I have a fond memory of traveling with Jan and Lorraine in
Jan’s psychedelic floral-painted VW bus to Boston to visit Jim Kweskin
and Maria Muldaur (of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band) before heading for
Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. I’d just sold 3 art posters to
Personality Posters and was flush with cash. I think it was 1965 or
’66. Some of the posters still appear on eBay from time to time and are
scooped up by collectors. Those were heady days to put it mildly. We
stopped at Timothy Leary’s place on the way to The Cape and have videos
of us taking turns swinging on a huge swing in the front yard there. We
laughed and sang and laughed so much! Sadly, Jan passed away a number
of years ago, much to my shock. She was a great supporter of my
artwork, having bought several of my stained-glass pieces and
watercolor paintings. She was so talented and was such a great friend.
I’ve kept her letters all these years. I miss her a lot.
I
know the word 'commune' gets thrown around a lot, but if you really
look into and read about PCC, it was more of a community of farms that
lived in close proximity of one another who created together.
That’s
correct. It was more a loosely scattered community of farms that
happened to be in Perth County. They were mostly miles from each other.
It took me a long time to get used to how much time we spent driving
the distances from one place to another. We shared a lot of music and
meals, etc. together. I still have pen and ink sketches I made of
friends during some of those visits.
Could
you share your thoughts on the lifestyle at that time? Richard and
yourself initially went there to get away from the noise of the city
and for a more serene sort of existence, correct?
We initially
immigrated to Canada in 1969 because Richard was offered steady work at
The Black Swan Coffeehouse. The previous year, in 1968, Harry Finlay
had scouted Richard and Ted Lucas as the Misty Wizards at the Retort
Coffeehouse in Detroit. Richard and Teddy had played The Black Swan in
Stratford all that summer. After Richard and Ted parted ways, Richard
accepted Harry’s offer to return to The Black Swan and we decided to
move to Canada. Also, we’d experienced the closing of the Canada/USA
border for three days during the Detroit Riots and wanted to be north
of that border after living at the edge of the riots. We’d witnessed
armored tanks driving down Woodward Avenue, seen armed guards posted to
protect various businesses and Richard and Ted were enlisted to protect
Ted’s father’s restaurant. One evening as I passed by the front window
of our apartment, an armored car passed by and a soldier pointed his
rifle at the window. From then on during the nights of the riots I had
to crawl past the window as soldiers were ordered to shoot at anything
that moved. However, I was reluctant to leave as I had a solid career
as a designer in promotion for The J.L. Hudson Company, as well as a
good client base for free-lance work. When we visited Chuck and Joni
Mitchell at their apartment in Detroit, with the beautiful cupboards
she had painted in floral motifs, she encouraged me to go to Canada,
assuring me I’d love it. I will be ever thankful for her encouragement
at that time. After Caitlin was born and before we emigrated, we made
numerous excursions to Stratford. We noticed our baby Caitlin’s sinus
congestion would always clear up when we crossed the border into the
cleaner air of Canada and unfortunately returned as we reached the
outskirts of the lower air quality around Detroit, on our way home. The
difference in Caitlin’s health was so noticeable, we had to make the
change. And then there were the politics and the Vietnam war. I have
vivid memories of the friendliness of the uniformed immigration
officers when we first arrived here in Stratford.
As for the lifestyle at the time, on the one hand there was the
uplifting joy, energy, and idealism of the poetry, music, social
gatherings, and living close to the land. On the other hand, there was
a more naïve socially open environment influenced by the pill as well
as by Playboy. This open activity was not limited to the PCC. The free
love movement had its discomforts and casualties. People experimented
without thought of the consequences, sadly leaving some emotionally
damaged. A lot was learned.
Could you share some thoughts and memories of Richard and Cedric as people. Differences, similarities etc?
That’s a tough
one. Each is a strong artist in his own right with strong egos and
personalities. Both are very creative. I miss seeing them play together
and banter back and forth as in the old days. Cedric is more
theatrical, as shown by his long list of acting accomplishments.
Richard is more of a poet/dreamer. I remember some of Richard’s
mesmerizing ragas played on his 12-string guitar that left audiences
spellbound and breathless. Richard and Teddy had studied with Ravi
Shankar years ago in California, and his (Richard’s) musical style was
so uplifting and strong. I’d love to hear more of that. It would be
wonderful if Richard and Cedric could get together again for old time’s
sake, if only to revisit those days.
What are you up to these days? Are you still involved in the creative process in any way?
These days I’m
into photography, taking too many pictures on my daily dawn walks. It’s
amazing how the same route will offer such differing moods, colours,
and inspiration, depending on the weather and season. I graduated from
Parsons School of Design and took photography classes there. Later I
studied with Freeman Patterson, one of Canada’s foremost nature
photographers. My dad was one of the forerunners of the dye-transfer
process in colour photography and my uncle was also a well-known
photographer, so I was surrounded by pros. My dad was also an art
teacher at Cleveland School of Art before becoming art director at Life
Magazine for many years. I started taking pictures for fun and then as
inspiration for paintings, something I plan on getting back to soon.
And then there’s the gardening which is also a source of inspiration
and inner peace. I’m a grandmother now so I have a focus on three
grandchildren as well. I have so many ideas, maybe too many, and so
much to do looking forward. Thank you Brent for your thoughtful
questions. It’s been a pleasure working with you and revisiting the old
days.
Final words from Connie below:
As
an addendum to this interview, and to clarify my background which isn’t
accurate on the ‘net, I was born in Lakewood Ohio. My dad, Stanley
Thomas Clough (the son of Provincetown painter Thomas Clough),
graduated, then taught art at the Cleveland School of Art. He was part
of the WPA projects, doing posters, murals, and photography. When I was
2, we moved to White Plains, NY where my dad was art director at Life
Magazine for years. I grew up in White Plains, graduated from WPHS then
from Parsons School of Design. I met Richard in NYC in the elevator of
our apartment on East 53rd Street. He was working singing and playing
in Greenwich Village around the time when Bob Dylan made the cover of
Time Magazine and Joni Mitchell and Richie Havens were just getting
started. I remember Richie Havens coming into the Café Basement after
hours to perform “Hard Rain” just after Dylan had finished writing it.
It was a huge music scene then. We moved to Florida for a year, the
year we tragically lost JFK. Then to the Lemon Tree Coffee House in
Dayton, Ohio, and on to Detroit. At the risk of shameless
self-promotion, I’ve included some of my art works from those days,
which have somehow become “vintage”. (How the years fly by!) The art
posters and art cards are still available for sale, some on eBay or by
direct contact. Thank you.
As
I mentioned, I have a few other choice PCC goodies up my sleeve to end
the PCC portion of this post. One of the choicest nugs is an hour long
CBC radio broadcast that aired a little over a decade ago and delves deep
into "Does Not Exist." It includes interviews with Richard, Cedric and
more! A truly fascinating document that is in my opinion an essential
companion piece to the album. Also, we have a documentary on 'hippy'
communes. The most interesting footage of course is live PCC footage,
particularly snippets of a live performance of "Crucifixation Cartoon" as well some awesome footage of one of the PCC farms in the Canadian
countryside, snow-covered, and in one clip on said farm we see Cedric Smith singing
"This Moment" by Incredible String Band! Thanks to Ezra Lesser for
doing some restoration work on the video, which originally had some
washed-out color issues. Lastly, Terry Jones of PCC was recently
interviewed by It's Psychedelic Baby! where he gives some interesting
insight into each song on "Does Not Exist" as well as loads of other
information on the band, highly recommended! All these links outlined
below. Enjoy!
-Inside the Music - Dream Times: The Perth County Conspiray... Does Not Exist
-Hippie Commune Documentary (restored)
-Terry Jones Interview (It's Psychedelic Baby!)
Moving
on to other topics... Finally, without having to fork over a mortgage
payment price-tag for a long out-of-print used hard copy, ENDLESS TRIP
was released in
digital format in PDF! I'm perfectly fine with digital-only here for a
few reasons; it's SUPER simple to search/jump to wherever you want, now
we've got a digitally preserved copy of the book for the ultimate
backup, and you can pop the PDF onto your phone and have a 700+ page
reference book with you when you shop for records! Digital is where
it's at in my world at this point, I've fully embraced it 100%. I have
so much more room in my music lair now that I've got multiple shelves
of cd's and DVD's stored in my crawl-space! Back to Endless Trip...
This book is a massive index of 60's/70's psych, hard-rock and beyond.
One of my favorite things about it is that it will include
multiple reviews of an album from the time it was released as well as
contemporary reviews. It's really amusing reading how some of these
music critic snobs stuck their pompous, snooty noses up the air to some
phenomenal albums! Especially corporate whore rags like Rolling Stone.
I also really dig the record ads that are thrown in here throughout, as
well as various photographs. This is an amazing reference book that I
imagine will lead to more musical discoveries. Well worth the modest
price to purchase
the PDF compared to the hefty sums used print copies fetch. DEF snag this!
An unfortunate item of note is the passing of the mighty thunder rider Nik Turner this past November. Nik Turner was of course one of the original members of the great psychedelic space rock band HAWKWIND. Nik appears on the BEST of Hawkwind's discography, which are those classic early HW records; self-titled debut (1970), In Search of Space (1971), Doremi Fasol Latido (1972), among others, including one of THE best live albums of all time, Space Ritual
(1973). Nik's unique sax in which he ran through effects to garble and warp it, Dik Mik
emitting warped other-worldly sounds of all dimensions on an 'audio
generator,' Del Dettmar adding more mind-fuckery w/his synthesizer
sounds, and of course Dave Brock's driving guitar riffs... Hawkwind
could really get you 'out there,' and they lived up to the hype
especially with their live stage shows. I had the pleasure of meeting
Nik on a few occasions. I even opened for him on guitar back in 2004 in
Philadelphia, my mind was blown to smithereens at one point mid-set
where he joined us on-stage with his sax! I've had conversations with him in which
he describes embodying the 'true spirit' of the band. Nik welcomes
audio/video recordings and such whereas grumpy Brockie sends goons into
the audience to nab anyone who even attempts to capture any live footage. I'm grateful to have
made the journey to witness Nik blast us into outer space with Hawkwind
songs on a handful of occasions, shows I will never forget. Below is a
pic of Nik and myself after a show of his in 2013. RIP Nik, you are
gone but never forgotten.
Mighty Baby - s/t (1969)
Formed out of
60's mod group The Action, Mighty Baby expanded their minds a bit from
their 60's pop/mod days with this record. Now, this is English psych,
which if often a bit 'twee,' with lyrics of sipping tea in quaint
loafers and good ol' auntie's scarf knitting and kindly watchmakers
etcetera.. BUT I can confidently say that this band did not fall into
the trappings of petty wankers and the like. This is a genuine sounding
effort, and a fantastic album that I only discovered about a year ago.
The opener, "Egyptian Tomb" is
of course one of the highlights with the mesmerizing dual-guitar work and
alienated lyrics, the sound gives me a desert-trip vibe with
the sun gleaming in the misty air... This is another one that came
along at a pivotal time in my life, and it will always flash me back to
it, this past year when I was trying to move out of the urban ugliness
in which I lived and get out 'in the country.' The lyrics sort of spoke to
me. "I'm From The Country" is
always one that gets knocked as the stinker on the record, but to me,
it came along at a time when I was trying to make big changes. After I
reached my desired destination here among the farmlands of PA, the song took on
an heir of a fine-wine to me as I listened, much like the plea in the
lyrics of this song. "House Without Windows"
is another one... I'll add another true story here: at one point I had
to put kevlar (bulletproof) material over my living room windows due to
a bullet that went through the neighbor's house, missing my window by
mere inches. So a 'house without windows' felt like my life for a few
years! This song has some fantastic lead guitar work as well, which
must be noted for the entire record. "Trials Of A City"
again hit close to home, I was trying to escape the trials of the city,
thankfully managing to do so! This song also has some great, ripping
guitar work. Speaking of ripping guitar work, "Same Way From The Sun"
has it in spades from Martin Stone! Wow, this song tore my head off and
was a big one that drew me in upon being initiated into this
record. Just unrelenting, killer lead fuzz guitar work that flashed me
back at certain moments to Jay Donnellan ala "August" on Love's 1969
effort.. Hey, same year as this release, was Martin diggin' on some Jay
or vice versa? I read an interview where a band member ripped this song
as one of the worst, I assume he's pointing to the lyrics, he thought
pretentious, but I dig the cosmic sort of questioning of the universe
and its meaning, and the answers that lie within... I know
I've put a lot of personal meaning in this review, but I think any
psych head who can appreciate a diverse-sounding record will mostly
certainly dig this. I've got the cd on Big Beat which sounds fantastic
and is apparently from the tapes.
Chad & Jeremy - The Ark (1968)
The final
album by Chad & Jeremy here and possibly their finest work. People
normally always cite 'Of Cabbages & Kings' as the band's best album
as far as their foray into psych, but 'The Ark' is THE one to me.
Although, "Rest In Peace" off
Cabbages is undeniably fantastic I must say. "The Ark" was not well
received, at least commercially, upon its release. You should read some
of the reviews, one of the pompous fucks even alluded to the guys
having a bit 'too much sunshine' on their brains when they recorded
this. What a square, pompous wanker! This album is deliciously
chock-full of beautiful, floaty, dreamy pop-psych with lush orchestral
arrangements. "Sunstroke" is my favorite on here, the clear winner with that eastern vibe and tripped-out sitar, 'is the sky really that bluuuuuuue.' "Pipe Dream"
is also another great, stony one, dreamy lyrics with floating
background vocals, a violin thrown in at one point for good measure and
to change the mood, it's all really well done. "Painted Dayglow Smile"
gives Beatles vibes, but it fits the overall vibe of the record.
There's lots of flute in here too, which I'm a sucker for, you throw
some flute in their with psychy-vibes and you've got me reeled in.
Honestly, the ONLY stinker to me is "You Need Feet,"
the closer... And I mean it's not HORRIBLE, I just think it detracts
from the greatness of this record with its silliness. Pair this album
up with like "Odessey & Oracle," and I think back to back you've
got an orchestral pop-psych evening for the ages. This is it, Chad
& Jeremy dipping their tongues into some of the Owsley stuff here,
their true baroque/pop-psych gem. I've got the 2006 cd from Sony Japan
(MHCP-979) and it sounds great to my ears, if you're going to seek out
a digital version, I highly recommend it.
Fresh Blueberry Pancake - Heavy (1970)
This is a
record that flew under the radar for a long time, I only recently
discovered it thanks to an old, wise head I've known for years. I
SHOULD have known about these guys too, being that they're from just a
couple hours drive away in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The music is
HARD-ROCK that is propelled by some delicious FUZZ guitar throughout.
You can debate if this is PSYCH or not, but I'll tell you - the way
that tasty fuzz guitar massages my brain, I'd say it can absolutely veer
into the psych category personally, but call it what you will... I must
note that this is actually just a demo LP the band put out, and VERY
little copies were pressed, I saw one report that it could be under 60! "Hassles"
opens the record just walloping you with delicious fuzz guitar and some
tasteful rebellion in the lyrics about not wanting to cut your hair to
conform... As a fellow 'long haired punk,' as I've been called, I can relate to this and love to just
CRANK this sucker LOUD. The sound is a bit raw, but it just works with
this style of fuzz-driven rock, it's not too polished, just rough
'round the edges... "Clown On A Rope"
is another standout track, again with that brain-massaging fuzz guitar,
and a killer solo thrown in... I dig the raw sound of the drums on this
record, they're so fitting with the overall vibe, speaking of the
drummer's style too, it all just gels together perfectly; that
primitive beat with the stripped-down heavy fuzz riffage. A song that
doesn't get much credit on this is one that I really enjoy, "Bad Boy Turns Good."
No fuzz on this one, but a harmonica-driven song about what sounds like
it could be a current day nutty MAGA right winger.. I mean listen to those
lyrics 'I scream at the people who knock my country, if they don't like
it they can leave.' Sounds like the same folks today who are worried
about drag shows and having weird delusions of children being 'groomed'
and 'indoctrinated.' As the title of this song says, the bad boy 'turns
good,' if only we can have that outcome with the current state of some
of the knuckle-dragging morons who walk around 'ol 'Murica lately eh? A
man can dream... The fuzz-driven tunes and "Bad Boy Turns Good"
are the winners here in my eyes.. They're not all winners, there are a
couple boring fuzz-less blues rockers here, but this is still worth
checking out. I have both the unofficial Shadocks cd from 2001 as well
as the OFFICIAL reissue on Ancient Grease Records on colored vinyl from
2022. Both aren't PERFECT by any means: the reissue improves on some
things from the Shadoks release, but falls short of being 'definitive'
due to it being cut loud from a brickwalled digital master. At any
rate, pick up what you can as originals are essentially unobtainable.
Markley - A Group (1970)
This
is the final album by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.
However, at the insistence of Bob Markley, it was released under
'Markley' as the band name. Why? Who knows... Markley was clearly an
odd dude. I think this one often goes under the radar and is generally
underrated, but it's DAMN good to my ears. It gets dark too, definitely
not standard 60's pop. "Booker T & His Electric Shock"
is one of my favorites, a fun tune that brings visions of One Flew Over
The Cuckoo's Nest, I find myself singing along when the song isn't even on lately. The strange, eerie sort of paranoia of "Roger The Rocket Ship," the sweet, melancholy of "Elegant Ellen" and "Little Ruby Rain." The song that probably sounds most like earlier WCPAEB would be the closer, "Outside/Inside."
I find this album to be great hiking music, personally. I discovered it
when I was going through a lot of things, specifically some
introspection and things going on in my life, and the feel of this music
with its breezy, ethereal vibe just sort of worked on long hikes
through the woods to clear the head. Do NOT sleep on this one if you
have yet to take the trip! I have the cd on the Acid Symposium label,
there's not much info on it, not even a release date, but it sounds
good to my ears.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Strictly Personal (1968)
The most
lysergic effort from Mr. Van Vliet indeed! Weed and acid were big with
the band at this time and that's reflected in the grooves here for
sure. This was the first album recorded for the label Blue Thumb
Records. Apparently, label owner Bob Krasnow added psychedelic effects
like phaser and such after the fact, and Don was pissed! I think it
works though, this is a great acid-blues record. The combination of
that delta blues with Don Van Vliet's howlin' vocal delivery in
combination with the mind-warping aspects of the effects really mix up
the medicine quite nicely. It's like backwoods acid-swamp music! Down
and dirty psychedelic blues bubba! "Safe As Milk" is a big favorite of mine,
a groovin' foot-stomper that just f'n ROCKS, with that tribal drumming
and the twangy sliding guitars! A tripped-out flange effect closes out
the song to great effect. "Trust Us"
is super hazy and stoney, tripped-out with flange-galore. As much as
Don Van Vliet was irate at the psychedelic effects being added, they
just WORK, even with his lyrics throughout this record, a lot of them
are very introspective and just sort of abstract and unique.... And the
effects are added TASTEFULLY in my opinion, not too much or too little,
but peppered in JUST right. And
with the best of psych records, this is one that I feel like I'm
noticing new things upon each listen, there's a lot going on. For
example, on "Trust Us," right at about 1:49 in, just listen to those layered guitar sounds,
that sort of cacophony of sound in each channel damn near defines
psychedelia. The whole album is a trip and instantly became a top
ranking CB record for me! It's a unique trip, in an unconventional sort
of way, it's like late-night tripping stumbling upon a weird film with
a backwoods setting that is genuinely psychedelic in the TRUEST,
natural sense of the word, not trying too hard, but GENUINE, the kind
of trip you remember most. "Kandy Korn" is another favorite of mine on here, totally psychedelic lyrics too - "be reborn, be reformed,"
like being spit out the other end of an acid trip, and that chaotic
BEAUTY that starts at 2:10 in and stretches on for a full 3 minutes is
pure bliss, orgiastic layered guitar madness and beauty all wrapped
into one, and in my opinion one of the most god-like psychedelic things
ever recorded in the late 60's! This is such a phenomenal way to close
the record too! No GOOD digital release of this album exists,
apparently a 1994 cd that did use tape-source also heavily
noise-reduced it, essentially killing the life of the sound, and reissues on vinyl aren't even up to par with the
way this NEEDS to be heard to appreciate it. You're in luck because
ThePoodleBites over at UPV has transferred a genuine original pressing
in M- condition, finally preserving this record for our digital
archiving and listening pleasure. This is THE definitive master and
likely will be for the remainder of time. Grab it here: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Strictly Personal (1968) [US Original]
________________________________________
09-09-2022
- Back To The Land: The Mystical, Bewitching Psych Of The Perth County Conspiracy (part 1)
This
post takes on a bit of a personal significance for me. I've
recently sold the home I've inhabited for the last 13 years, this place
was just outside the city of Philadelphia. I was then fortunate enough
to land a new home out 'in the country,' where I really want to be. In
fact, launching this post the second weekend in the new place! It took a
lot of work to get here, but it's pure joy to be away from all of the
urban ugliness and just being so CROWDED on top of people essentially
(row home life). The neighborhood wasn't getting any better either; a
mugging on the corner in broad daylight, multiple shootings just down
the road... Twas' certainly time to head for zee hills! So, I'm
currently OUT here near the farmlands of Pennsylvania, MUCH more open space and
room to BREATHE. It's a sort of a Relatively Clean Rivers Phil
Pearlman-esque trip, as Patrick Lundborg once said; 'the fallout from the post-acid lifestyle, told
from the third cardinal point,' ya dig? Anyway, this leads me to the
main topic of this post,
centering upon THE PERTH COUNTY CONSPIRACY.
Richard Keelan, one of the founders of the group had been residing in
Detroit, MI and he and his wife were witnessing the Detroit riots in
1967. Part of the neighborhood had been completely destroyed and in
Richard's words, the 'pastoral peacefulness' in rural Southern Ontario
sounded very appealing to him at the time. Richard and his wife Connie
moved into Cedric Smith's farmhouse in Ontario, it was there that the
early seeds of PCC were sown and some material started to be worked
on. There's always been this notion of a COMMUNE, and when you look at
the "Does Not Exist" album cover, it can be easy to see how that notion
could be gleaned. However, instead of a single central 'commune' in the
purest sense of the term, it was more of a commune of several different
farms with people working together in a creative sense and even just as
family; looking out for one another, sharing food from their farms
w/one another, making toys for the children, meeting up at the local
coffeehouse to perform together. It was in a sense like a society unto
itself, w/many of the members seeking peace from the big city, or even
fleeing the U.S. due to the draft. A 'back to the land' culture of
like-minded folks who wanted to create their own culture rather than
conforming to what society has deemed as 'normal' or appropriate.
PCC had signed a record contract with Columbia and recorded their debut album "Does Not Exist"
at world renowned studio Toronto Sound with Terry Brown producing it
and being much responsible for the magic in masterfully intertwining
the collaging that PCC is known for within the songs. Believe it or
not, this album has NEVER been released officially in digital form, or
even a good proper reissue in fact. Also, I admit I had a vinyl rip in
my possession for a number of years, but due to the poor quality
transfer, I never really listened to it much. Flash forward many years
later and I would be truly turned-on to this masterpiece like never
before when a proper vinyl transfer/restoration was done by the
incredible Poodle over at UPV
(link coming in a bit here). Yes folks, sound quality matters! This
record is unlike any other, it's like stepping into another world.
Hearing a proper transfer of this album was breathtaking in that the
QUALITY of the recording is just phenomenal. It's like the band is
playing right in your living room if you blast this from some good
speakers. The opener, "Midnight Hour,"
is a 6+ minute suite that immediately shows off PCC doing what they do
best, and what was a staple of their live show during the time, that is
melding together and 'collaging' multiple songs into one w/poetry,
literature, various time and mood changes, and doing it surprisingly
perfectly as if it was all meant to be. You'll hear sound effects
peppered throughout the album that set the tone/mood such as a
crackling fireside, sounds from the country and more. I find that the
album succeeds in retaining a heady, tripped-out edge without the
overly-psychedelic sounds effects that were prevalent back in the day
(backwards tapes, sound effects etc.), this record is psychedelic in a sort of
all-natural vibe, the PUREST psychedelia you can have my friends. The
record is often what I call life-guiding, in that there's messages
within that inspire. "Keeper of The Key"
is one of these tracks, I remember during a rather difficult time of my
life, I took a walk on a bright, sunny day along a path through the
forest beside a creek and listened intently to the words and it all
just sort of came together for me, centered my being and my soul, the
warmth of the bright sun on my face and the awe of the cascading water
over the rocks in the creek... 'the
water of life does flow freely, said the keeper of the key, drink the
light and be the music flowing forth in harmony...' 'be true to the
virtue that you seek.' I find this track to be truly cathartic at high volume levels! "Don't You Feel Fine"
- this is another, doesn't get anymore life-guiding that that one, many lessons within if you choose to turn-on an listen! Jan
& Lorraine, whom were friends with PCC would cover this song on
their "Gypsy People" album. "Truth & Fantasy"
is another big standout here, again with the collaging that works just
oh-so-well here on this song especially... This is another sort of
multi-song suite that goes in some different moods and directions, even
a fun little spoken-word piece before bringing it back to completion
with how it started. A sort of orgiastic sing-along with Richard and
Cedric's vocals complementing one another so brilliantly as they do on
the
entire record. The whole record is like a life unto itself, so unique
in how it draws you in while at the same time having this sort of
mystical vibe to it all like it's some lost key to the universe or
something. "Trouble On The Farm"
breaks things up with a jammy little groover about a pot bust that
Cedric Smith endured when the cops busted him with a load of weed on
his farm. "The Dancer" is a
beautiful piece, this is another one I was in the forest hiking with,
GREAT setting for this record if you're able... I was sitting upon an
enormous rock overlooking the creek, the sunlight was creating prisms
through the trees, little leaves and things were creating trippy
ripples all over the water, the lyrics were just beautiful in this sort
of meditative nature scene, then Richard's frantic chord progressions
on the acoustic guitar to launch the song into the great beyond. Ahhhh,
pure bliss. The closer, "Crucifixation Cartoon"
is almost like a warning, at least to me, that it takes effort and work
to reach the levels spoken about in previous songs, a sort of somber
ending that works the more I listen to the album. So, like I said,
unreal that an album THIS good has not seen proper reissue. But we're
in luck as the Poodle over at UPV has ripped a copy from an Acid
Archives contributor (full circle eh?), a copy with new stampers and
improved sound over the 'two-eyed' originals - you'll hear more about
the originals next in my interview with RICHARD KEELAN, yes you heard that right! In the meantime, go and get this NOW, you've never heard this record sound this good, BLEW ME AWAY and made me fall in love with this gem, shooting it right up into my favorite albums of all time - The Perth County Conspiracy - Does Not Exist (1970) [Canadian LP]
It
took some time, but I finally tracked down Richard Keelan who was
gracious enough to let me pick his brain about his band and their magical record that I've been
madly obsessed with for the past couple years. Enjoy!
So you initially left the States for a
more peaceful, serene setting in Canada on a farm? What ultimately led
you to depart the States?
I had heard of Cedric some time before we met. In the early 60s he
was playing a circuit of Midwestern US coffee-houses billed as Ric
Smith, some of which i had also played. My playing journey saw me end
up in Detroit in '64, where I lived for the next five years, eventually
becoming an original member of The Spike Drivers, a psychedelic
folk/rock band of considerable local fame. When that band devolved, two
of us (Ted Lucas RIP and I) formed a duo we called the Misty Wizards,
and in 1968 we were booked to play the Black Swan Coffee House in
Stratford ON, which is where Cedric and I eventually met. Connie and i
lived in a mostly black neighborhood in Detroit when the 'Black Day in
July' erupted in 67, a sobering experience indeed! Our daughter Caitlin
came along in '69, and we decided to emigrate to Canada that year.
Cedric and his wife Joan offered to have us stay at their farmhouse til
we soon found a place of our own. While we were at their place was when
Cedric and I started tossing song ideas together and plotting our
non-existent Conspiracy. The rest, as 'they' say, is history.
How did you first meet Cedric and what were your first impressions of him?
At the time we met, I already had a fair amount of original songs in my
repertoire, while Cedric, up to that time, mostly performed some
standard folk songs, British and Irish trad ballads and so on, but was
also writing some original material. He obviously had a strong, vibrant
voice, and we harmonized well together. He had interesting ideas for
'collaging' songs together; thus we came up with (best example) 'You've
Got to Know,' a finished song of mine (Love to Make) with a mash-up of
lyric snippets by Cedric in the beginning and middle to form the whole
piece. We worked like that a lot of the time, sometimes improvising
chunks live onstage which became set pieces along the way. Just about
everything we ever recorded is now up on YouTube, with those who post
it apparently earning ad revenue if they have enough subscribers... er
something... We get little, if not nothing, from all that (my last
payout from SOCAN songwriter royalties was .43 cents ... nuff said.)
That said, here is a YT posting of our independent 'white album,' which
I mixed down from two-track tapes taken from the soundboard on this
Western Canada concert tour. I've always felt this represented our live
shows quite well, although the audio quality isn't quite
studio-grade... Good songs, improvised comic relief, and enthusiastic
crowd
response. David Woodhead, bassist with PCC later on, transferred this
to CD a few years ago... have a listen.
How
did you feel playing in the PCC versus the garagey-er Spike-Drivers
& Misty Wizards? Did you find it easier to be creative in the
smaller collaborative unit of PCC?
The two situations were completely different. The Spikes were already formed,
and I was the last to join. They already had a repertoire, and we added
my already written songs to it; there was no co-writing going on. In
PCCDNE, Cedric and I were collaborating as the group accreted around
us, and we collaged more and more chunks of material as the collective
grew, It was
a much more progressive improvisatory process.
Similarly,
how did you find working with Reprise versus Columbia? Both labels seem
to have aspects (at least) of extremely poor artistic management.
Artistic management?!! Surely you jest... Major labels don't - and
don't care to 'manage' artists careers unless they're profiting from it
- then they just manage the money. So, with a new artist/new contract,
they're throwing artists and money against the wall to see what
sticks. Without adequate financial returns, their 'investment'
becomes a tax deduction, and so much for 'artistic management.' The
artists slither down the wall to obscurity. The Reprise contract we
Spikes signed in the U.S. in '65 stipulated: artists receive 8% of
sales after expenses (studio time, promo, whatevs...), artists
relinquish 50% of composers royalties and 50% of mechanical licensing
royalties to Warner/Reprise publishing house. The Columbia (Canada)
contract PCCDNE signed in 1970 was...(checking my notes).... yep -
exactly. the. same. 8%, 50/50 on
publishing and mechanicals. The main distinction was with Reprise, the
Spikes only recorded singles - searching for a 'hit'; with
Columbia, it was for making an album, which was progress, at least. In
neither case did we ever receive any money from sales from either
company. In fact, in Columbia's case, we told 'em to fuck off and
didn't sign away half our publishing on our second album cuz we were
not pleased with what they did with it. So they just dumped
'Alive' into the market with no real promo, and we parted company. At
some later point, they sent us an invoice for $18,000 for 'expenses
incurred' or some shit... We had a good laugh and sailed that invoice
into the wastebasket. Never heard from 'em after that.
Did you guys come to record Does Not
Exist with all the material prepared ahead of time? How much of the
record was created on-the-fly vs. prepared upon arrival to the studio?
Yes, all the material was rehearsed and prepared for recording. I must
point out that the recording engineer at Toronto Sound, Terry
Brown, was key to how the album turned out. Once we helped him
understand the 'collaging' aspect of how we combined song and spoken
word with flights of fancy, his engineering wizardry resulted in the
finished album having the impact it has had with folks like you and our
fans over the last 50+ years. (if you google Terry, you'll find he
later produced/recorded major Canadian acts like Rush and many others)
Were drugs often used when creating songs, or when in the studio?
If, by drugs, you mean cannabis - hell yes! I mean, I've been smokin'
it from well before it was deemed 'medicinal'; for me, it was
always the cure (read: medicine) for the accelerating insanity we've
all survived through the 20th and into this 21st century... And yes, it
played a part in the creative process. But sometimes getting high while
recording, under the time restraints and money pressures, was not
usually a good idea - it was work, and best to be efficient and
workmanlike in most cases.
I was not able to find any advertisements for the band or album stateside. Did PCC ever have aspirations of a US tour?
Obviously Columbia (Canada) felt they weren't making enough profit off
us to warrant US promo and/or release - which was fine by me; I like
Canada, and there was plenty enough to do in this country.
Could
you comment about each song on the album, what it means to you? In
particular, I wonder what was going through your head when writing
"Keeper Of The Key" and the poem that became "Crucifixation Cartoon" -
if you could elaborate even more on those two in particular, that would
be fantastic.
I must say up front: I've never felt any compunction to explain songs I
write. Whatever I say in a song is for the listener to take whatever
the words say to mean for themselves. And no two listeners will likely
take the same meaning, IMHO. I don't want to tell people what to think,
but to think! Interpret for themselves, apply to their own life...or
not! Exercise choice.
That said, firstly, I'll offer no opinions or comments on Cedric's
stand-alone songs, just as I won't for my own - except for the two
examples you asked me to comment on. They offer the polar opposites of
what I'm talking about: I had written 'Keeper of the Key' in Detroit,
before I moved to Canada. That's nearly 60 years ago! I was a
twenty-something, and have no fuckin' idea what was going through my
head, other than the thoughts that produced the song. Frankly, I don't
remember writing it... so there's that.
The other song, the one collaged into 'Crucifixation Cartoon,' was maybe
titled 'Love is not a Game,' can't recall, once it was subsumed into the
whole piece. But a lyric like "love is not the same as acting in a play"
fit with our whole theatrical ethic in putting together 'scenes' within our
musical set pieces. The same idea would apply in the collaging of
'Truth and Fantasy,' with snippets of poetry cascading into Cedric's
'Goddess Fantasia' song, then the reprise of 'Truth and Fantasy' as a
closing parenthesis. Again, the idea applies to 'Listen to the Kids,' putting
that little kiddie ditty I'd written together with poems by children that
Cedric curated and were read by youngsters from our community... simple
idea that worked. Oh yeah, I'd written 'Easy Rider' after seeing that
movie, and the war scene at the end was a collage of an old Lord
Buckley bit, plus
catastrophic sound effects... and the word 'AmeriCanadian' was actually
a motto emblazoned across the top of my membership card in the local
Canadian branch of the American Federation of Musicians! (I've
long-since abandoned that union like they abandoned me) And that's
about as much as I want to parse out our writings from half a century
ago. I leave it to the listener to glean what they can, and search out
their own meanings.
Thanks Richard! Any additional bits of information you'd like to share, please go ahead as the final piece of this interview.
There's one other ridiculous anomaly regarding this record's actual
physical manufacturing. Columbia marketing guys came at us with this
new 'microgroove process,' touting it excitedly as a way to get all the
material we'd recorded onto one disc! Now, most vinyl LPs average 20
minutes per side, or about 40 min total. 'Does Not Exist' totaled... um
... 54 minutes or so. There was a huge flaw in this idea. The
'micro-grooved' discs began to break down soon after purchase quite
quickly. We saw it ourselves, and others told us about it. So the irony
there is that the audio messages of 'Does Not Exist' began to fade with
every playing into the mode of doesnotexistance - because of Columbia's
delusional incompetence. But they didn't stop there. After we had
recorded two nights live in concert for our second album, those
marketing guys decided to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the material out over a
two-disc package - obviously to sell for a higher price. We objected;
they persisted, and as noted above, we refused to sign away our
publishing. In the end, the 'Alive' album tracked for less time over
four sides of vinyl than 'Does Not Exist' did on two sides - and
'Alive' had just 3... three! cuts per side, fa'chrissakes... If i was
easily given to paranoia, I'd suspect those marketing Einsteins were
sabotaging us. But that would be giving them too much credit for being
smart.
After all is said and done, I'll just quote Gregory Porter, who sings:
"it's just water under bridges that have already burned"
*STAY TUNED FOR PT. 2 OF THE PCC STORY
IN AN UPCOMING BLOG POST (near future, promise!) - in the meantime
enjoy the remainder of this post below
Its
been a long time since I've gone on a hunt for a live show video,
unofficial live show video that is. This one proved to be quite the
challenge. I'd enjoyed a live clip of The Red Telephone from
youtube for a number of years, I always thought it was a primo live
version of the song. I also always wondered if a FULL live version of
this Love concert existed. I went on the hunt and found out that a FULL LIVE VIDEO
of this concert was filmed - House of Blues - Aug. 19, 2003 in West
Hollywood, CA!
I began scouring the internet with deep searches of all kinds. It
seemed every lead I got eventually led to nowhere. I was elated to have
FINALLY found a dedicated Love fan who dug this out of his archives and
uploaded the full, uncompressed DVD files for me. This show blew me
away even more than I could have imagined. The official live Forever
Changes DVD? I can't even see myself putting that show on anymore now
that I've obtained this show. This is an audience-recorded video, but
it's nicely done; filmed on a tripod, center-stage, tasteful
close-ups throughout and nice full-stage shots. Nice, beefy setlist,
but of course the centerpiece is the sublime, the timeless, the
life-guiding majesty that is the great FOREVER CHANGES, and they play
the album start-to-finish with a full orchestra just like the studio
album to do it justice. You can tell Arthur is really feeling it here
and in a fantastic mood, dancing about the stage and traveling the
length of it, gyrating about. I got goosebumps throughout the set, no
joke. "Old Man" was one of those moments, Arthur is brilliant in his
tribute to the late Bryan MaClean, and at one point he's looking at the
lyrics then just tosses them as if saying 'I don't need these.' After
the FC set, they play some other favorites including the frantic "7
& 7 Is," and a couple of my faves off Four Sail including "August"
and "Singing Cowboy." Unfortunately, the DVD ends just prior to Johnny
Echols joining on guitar and Don Konka on drums for the encore, BUT
this DVD has those two in some sweet bonus footage of a jamming a
little "Smokestack Lightning" with Arthur in an intimate little
rehearsal space. This is one for the archives folks! It took a bit of
sleuthing, but it was worth every minute to track down this treasure.
The link above (FULL LIVE VIDEO) goes into more detail on the personnell
and a first-hand review of this show. And they also mention like I do
how THIS show is worlds better than the officially released "Royal
Festival Hall" DVD. A shame the pro cameras weren't there to capture
THIS night instead, but this is a MORE than watchable live show video
that's well-shot indeed and we should be forever grateful to the dedicated fan
who recorded this legendary gig. I can see repeated viewings of this
well into the future.
Michael
Stuart Ware was the drummer for Love from 1966-1968. He wrote "Pegasus
Epitaph" about his experience in the band and the music industry in
general. This differs from the "Forever Changes" book in that it's a
book all from someone with FIRST-HAND experience in the band. I like
Michael's style of writing, he's got a great, sort of natural flow to
his writing, and he does a good job in taking you back in time to the
60's... Jesus, working with Arthur sounded like a real pain in the
ass... Hard to believe that someone who wrote something as
mind-blowingly beautiful, eloquent and timeless as Forever Changes had
so many demons... Well, I guess a lot of genius artists are like that.
If you love LOVE as much as I do and insist on gobbling up any worthy
reading on the band like myself, then I highly recommend adding this to
your reading list. So far it's the only book I'm aware of written solely
by an actual member of the band.
On
a more somber Love note, we lost a great this past year. You've likely
read my post praising Love's "Four Sail," especially the guitarist on
that record, the great Jay Donnellan and his acidic-freakout guitar
solo on the song "August," it truly elevates your being and leaves you
befuddled and speechless afterwards. ALL his guitar is TOP on Four
Sail, without him the album simply would NOT be the same. We lost that
great psych-guitar
wizard this past year. I had tried to secure an interview with Jay a
few years back but was informed by family that he was in an assisted
living home at the time. I would have loved to have had a convo and
picked his brain about Four Sail.
Jay, I hope you're shredding those leads up in the great beyond, you will live
on forever through your music. Click the image below for the best
article you'll read on Jay Donnellan, from Melody Maker, 1973.
Wildfire - Smokin' (1970)
If you're just
looking for some killer HARD rock with RIPPING guitar work, this album
is where it's at. These guys hailed from Austin, TX and Laguna Beach,
CA. Apparently, they played LOUD and their massive Quilter amplifiers
are what gave them their sound, built specially for them in Pat
Quilter's garage. This album was recorded at Sonobeat Records in
Austin, TX, produced & engineered by Bill Josey Sr. Hey, wonder if
they ever ran into the Cold Sun crew? Would've been right around the
same time-frame. This record has been criticized for its
songwriting/lyrics, but I think they're just fine for what this is. A
great record to put on an just rock out with loads of killer fuzz
guitar leads that sound so tasty BLASTING out of your speakers. Yeah,
play this one LOUD! The opener, "Stars In The Sky" is my favorite track
off the record. Stinging fuzz guitar throughout with heavy, pounding
drums. Simplistic lyrics, but I think they work nicely and convey a
cool message, dare I say 'life-guiding,' a pondering of life then a
sort of ode to all to just be fucking cool... to look at the beauty in
things. Simple, but effective. The first handful of songs are my
favorites and "Down To Earth" is another great one - a bit more mellow
than the opener, but still rocks pretty hard. Simple lyrics, sure, but
like I said before, they work for what this is. You'd have to be a
total snob not to take at least SOME enjoyment out of this album. And
believe me, I've been called a music snob on more than one occasion in
my life! "Free" is another standout for me - starting in typical
Wildfire fashion w/Grand Funk-style heavy jamming, but then it breaks
into this gorgeous piece a little over a minute and twenty secs in with
some acoustic guitars and sounds of birds chirping, ya know I always
love a bit of contrast like this. I have the
2006 reissue on cd, self-released by the band themselves, which is
sourced from an 'open reel dub' of the master tapes which were
apparently lost years ago. This discs sounds plenty good to my ears. Snag it if ya don't have it and CRANK IT!!!
Krokodil - Invisible World (1971)
Here we've got
a Swiss band that started in 1969, apparently getting their name from
their guitarist who kept a young crocodile as a pet! Their first couple
of records are a more bluesy/garagey sound, still great records, but
this one is my favorite as they get bit more tripped-out and
experimental, diving into the psych waters and other-worldly for
our listening pleasure. The album opens with one of the band's best - "Lady of Attraction,"
effect-laden vocals from Walty Anselmo, flute, and some harmonica in
there. Yes, harmonica is not abandoned from the band's earlier bluesy
output, but they do it tastefully and I think it workss quite nicely
and fits the mood. "Looking At Time"
is a lengthy 14-minute track, but it does not bore and I never found
myself reaching for the skip button. It's done nicely with a contrast
of acoustic/electric guitar combo and some tasty leads, floaty
Gilmore-esque leads at one point, trippy/contemplative lyrics.. An
excellent track indeed. Also, possibly my favorite on here is the 15+
minute "Odyssey In Om," I highly suggest dimming all the lights,
lighting up the lava lamp and listening intently without distraction to
this one as it gets quite heady my friends; loads of tripped-out sitar,
background sounds coming from all-around, and again that lovely
flute... Doesn't flute work so nicely in psych music when done
properly? "Odyssey In Om" also
includes a heady little spoken word piece close to 10-minutes in that
gives vibes of Group 1850 'Agemo's' era, yes this song has all a head
could ever ask for! This record makes you feel like you're in another
land, perhaps that freaky album cover at times... then the inside
gatefold at other times where the band is all sitting with multiple
candles lit in a somber-looking foresty cemetery. Anway, no great
digital version exist, so The Poodle at Ultimate Psychedelic Vinyl HQ
transferred an original M- pressing so we can all hear this gem how it
was meant to be heard. Hi-Res scans of the brilliant album artwork also
included! Grab it here: Krokodil - An Invisible World Revealed (1971) [German Original]
Twink - Think Pink (1970)
This is one that I can't believe flew under my radar for so many years. Twink was no stranger to psych-rock, he was in the band Tomorrow of "My White Bicycle" fame among others, he also played drums on a few tracks off the Pretty Things "SF Sorrow."
Oh, his name comes from a brand of hair used for perms, referencing
Twink's curly hair and not the slang used for a slim, fem-boy type of
male! It's 2022, and this album was released in 1970, slang has changed
a bit! This one was recorded in '69, released in '70 and features a
recognizable crew including the great Viv Prince from the Pretty Things on "Mexican Grass War," Mick Farren from the Deviants doing some vocals, who also produced the record, and even Steve Peregrin of T-Rex! The album opens with an acid-freakout sound collage "The Coming Of The Other One,"
this could be seen as a bit goofy and self-indulging upon first listen,
but it sets the mood for the killer songs laden with acid-guitar that
make this album a joy for all heads from all around the globe. Next up
is my favorite track on this record and what initially drew me in - "Ten Thousand Words In A Cardboard Box"
- dark-acidic lyrics with loads of delicious, unrelenting fuzz guitar
accompanied by pounding drums that are nice and up front in the mix.
Yes, this is heady, dark psych my friends... Here we have English psych
that is not about auntie's tea-sipping and scarf-knitting, this is
stuff you wouldn't blast around old gam-mah." "Tiptoe On The Highest Hill"
is another big favorite of mine on here; heady, sort of contemplative
big-picture lyrics, and a hazy-stoned vibe throughout. Starts with the
mellow sort of hazy-stoned vibe I mentioned, then a couple minutes in
some killer swirling fuzz guitar comes in and out of the mix, this is
like the coming-down of an acid-trip, sitting on a hill and realizing
how small you are and contemplating life, the universe and all of its
creations. The two songs I mention are by far the best that grace the
record, but the rest is no slouch either. "Fluid"
is a great instrumental, again with some great experimental
acid-guitar, dual guitars in fact in each channel, really dig this one.
"Rock & Roll The Joint" is another great instrumental with lots of fuzzed-out wah guitar and feedback. "Three Little Piggies"
is really the only dud on here, a total unnecessary, goofy throwaway
that should have been saved for the 'bonus' outtakes track on a cd
reissue decades into the future or something! The first cd reissue from
1991 on World Wide Records is the one you want to go for as far as
excellent sound quality.
The Travel Agency - s/t (1968)
Formed in San
Francisco, this group released their one and only record on Viva in
'68. Now, the album cover might be deceiving to say the least. I could
see being in a record shop on Haight St. back during this time and
without a doubt thinking this could be something that's going to be so
tripped-out that I might need to make a night out of it, BUT that's not
the case here. With that being said, there's still a great album that
has gone fairly under the radar as far as I can tell. It's more of a
pop-rock album, but there's some tinges of psych peppered in here and there. The
first few tracks are the best, and the album opens with a haunting,
moody keyboard intro with tripped-out sound effects on "What's A Man,"
before launching into a killer guitar riff. Great anti-war lyrics that
are sadly still quite relevant. They don't mince words on the lyrics
here - "we've got to fight them while they're small, or they're disease
will soon be spreading, and then we then we'll never kill them all."
Whoa! Bit of a Beatles Revolver-era flavor in spots here, including
"Sorry You Were Born," with its great message of 'just find something
that you can do, something that you enjoy will do.' A simple sort of
life-guiding message that many of our fellow talking apes should start
following! "Cadillac George" is a fun little goofy tune, great for
anyone who enjoys brain-massaging fuzz! "Lonely Seabird" is probably my
favorite on here, and the most PSYCHEDELIC, probably the one TRUE psych
song on the entire album. A breezy, floaty, mesmerizing piece of psych
that in my opinion stands up with some of the best breezy/light psych of the time. "So Much Love" is a nicely done little acoustic piece, more
despair than the title would lead you to believe. "Make Love" is rather
cheesy I must admit, but the only one that's a sort of throw away on
here in my opinion. No other tracks stand up to the first handful, but
I dig "I'm Not Dead," it's catchy and enjoyable, again with a sort of
Beatles flavor. "She Understands" is another very catchy, enjoyable
song that stands out side from the creme de' la creme of the first
side. "Come To Me" is also another great pop track. Come to think of
it, I think a few songs on side one outshine things on this record so
much that it leaves much of the rest of it unappreciated. They should
have spread these songs out differently perhaps! As per usual, with
many of these old 60's records, a quality digital reissue has yet to
see the light of day, but the great ThePoodleBites at UPV has ripped us
a nice mint copy for our listening and archival pleasure. Full hi-res
scans and all here: The Travel Agency - self-titled (1968) [US Original]
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Part One (1968)
After
having only owned the Sundazed reissue of the stereo debut of WCPAEB, I
was delighted to see that the Poodle over at UPV ripped us a white label promo of an original MONO pressing! For a while this was my
favorite WCPAEB album, but in recent years I've come to enjoy what are
what I feel their more heady output, that being Vol. 2 and Vol. 3. But
I still love this record. This one always made me feel like I'm on a
desert trip or something, just the feeling it gives me. It's like this
breezy sort of vibe. It's mellow and heady, gets plenty weird... They
cover Zappa's "Help I'm A Rock," and while not as far-out at Mr.
Zappa's original, I still quite enjoy it. This tripped-out 'breezy'
vibe I speak of is most prevalent on tracks like "Shifting Sands" and
"Transparent Day." "Will You Walk With Me" is another one in this vein,
a beautiful piece with some violin and chimes. I won't go too detailed
in my review of the music here b/c I have reviewed it in past issues of
Psych Trail Mix, back in the days of the actual print copies, but I had
to get this review in to recommend the punchier mono mix here provided
by the great/talented Poodle, see the link with his review to see the details of
actual differences between the mono and stereo versions, full hi-res
scans too, with an album cover like that, those are essential! The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Part One (1967) [Mono Mix]
Nurt - s/t (1970)
This is a band
from Poland, they've been described as prog-rock, but I think that sort
of does a disservice to their sound. I'd equate it more to hard-rock
with psych elements peppered throughout, some jazz elements as well.
Guitarist is incredibly talented and one of the main draws of the
album, and ya gotta love that fuzz bass! "Synowie Nocy" (English
translation: Sons of The Night) is one of my favorite songs off the
album - some groovy wah guitar jamming, then it breaks into some tasty
sitar that sends you to liftoff. That's one of the things I really dig
about this album is its diversity in that it can rock hard, then it has
some beautiful mellow pieces as a contrast, it all blends quite nicely.
"Holograficzne Widmo" (English translation: "Holographic Spectre") -
just killer winding, wah guitar work and that drummer really shines,
trippy effects peppered in with a few mood changes throughout the song,
certainly a trip I must say! The closer, the 9-minute epic "Syn
Strachu" (English translastion: Son of Fear) is another highlight -
some tasteful trumpet throughout, which actually works quice nicely,
again with all the time-changes throughout, these guy knew their craft
and were not novice by any means. Not a dud on here really, super
enjoyable start to finish. You'll see a few different reissues of this,
but the one you want is the cd on Yesterday from 2003, the sound
quality clearly outshines all other relases.