Psychedelic Visions - Various Artists

Psychedelic Visions is one of my favourite CDs in my record collection. Oops, sorry! Showing my age a little with that reference to a record collection! As are the tracks on this CD. They, too, are showing their age, but like a fine wine have truly stood the test of time.

The first song on the CD is Kites by Simon Dupree and The Big Sound. Wow. What can I say? This song is a reminder of my childhood, hearing it on Radio Caroline late ...
...to Status Quo? From primo psychedelic band to… oh, well, never mind! "Pictures of Matchstick Men and you" and of what might have been.

Track 5 A Dream Within a Dream by Spirit. Piano, muted guitars and ethereal lyrics, vocalised in a curiously old fashioned but effective way. A good song, probably representative of much good music of the flower power era.

Track 6 It's a Happening Thing. Peanut Butter Conspiracy. ... more

Psychedelic Visions is one of my favourite CDs in my record collection. Oops, sorry! Showing my age a little with that reference to a record collection! As are the tracks on this CD. They, too, are showing their age, but like a fine wine have truly stood the test of time.

The first song on the CD is Kites by Simon Dupree and The Big Sound. Wow. What can I say? This song is a reminder of my childhood, hearing it on Radio Caroline late at night. It is atmospheric, orchestral, Oriental and "poppy" all at the same time. Can a song really be all of those things at the same time? Back them in the era of flower power, all things were possible. Or so we thought! The composer had the unlikely name of Hal Hackaday. "In letters of gold on a snow white kite I will write I love you, and send it soaring high above you…"

Track 2 is something that I had not heard for many years. The Strawberry Alarm Clock and Incense and Peppermint. (The title of this song was later used in a song by Blondie.) This is an amazing song, with urgent, swirling sounds and swirling ideas. "Who cares what games we choose? Everything to win, nothing to lose."

Track 3 The Lemon Pipers, Green Tambourine. "Help a poor man build a pretty dream." They don't write them like that anymore! Nifty bit of sitar-style music and tambourine, which sounds very good in stereo.

Track 4 Pictures of Matchstick Men, by Status Quo. What the hell happened to Status Quo? From primo psychedelic band to… oh, well, never mind! "Pictures of Matchstick Men and you" and of what might have been.

Track 5 A Dream Within a Dream by Spirit. Piano, muted guitars and ethereal lyrics, vocalised in a curiously old fashioned but effective way. A good song, probably representative of much good music of the flower power era.

Track 6 It's a Happening Thing. Peanut Butter Conspiracy. Gosh. "Love is the grooviest thing up to now in the world. It's a happening thing." A song of first love set in the flower power idiom. Fantastic male and female vocals, with some nifty guitar work and percussions. I had to check. Was that really Mama Cass Elliot singing with the group? No, it was Sandi Peanut Butter, or Barbara Robison as she was more properly known! Apparently people at the time commented on her sounding like Cass Elliot, so I was not alone. In fact, the PBC did sound a great deal like the Mamas and the Papas.

Track 7 That Acapulco Gold, by Rainy Daze. Sung in the then fashionable pseudo-1920s style. A song in praise of going South and enjoying some Acapulco Gold. Out of all of the songs, probably the only one that sounds dated.

Track 8 Magic Hollow, The Beau Brummels. French accordion, moody quavering vocals, acoustic guitar and orchestral strings. A sort of cross between French Left Bank and 1960s US folk music. Pleasant, but not especially memorable.

Track 9 Pride of Man Quicksilver Messenger Service. Apocalyptic song, strong guitars with a strong bass, and muted but purposeful drum playing. "Oh God, pride of man, broken in the dust again." Heady stuff!

Track 10 In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly. This is an interesting bluesy, heavy metal and psychedelic melding of styles, with somewhat portentous (or perhaps pretentious?) lyrics. Good fun, all the same.

Track 11 Yes I Need Someone, Eire Apparent. Experimental guitar playing, stiring, driving vocals and music. Thoughtful writing.

Track 12 Tomorrow by Revolution. This has dated, with its call for "Revolution NOW!" Interesting guitar work and flutes, slightly military feel to part of the music, which seems typically middleclass English when set against the other mainly West Coast USA bands on the CD.

Track 13 Imposters (sic) of Life's Magazine by The Idle Race. Somewhat dated, but sounding quiet familiar, one of the lesser known Brummie bands. Jeff Lynne (yeah, THAT Jeff Lynne!) was in The Idle Race.

Track 14 Making Time, The Creation. Sadly, Marking Time would have been more apt a description. Sounds a little too like The Kinks. A little research showed that The Creation was produced by the same chap who produced The Kinks.

Track 15 Somebody to Love, The Great Society. Yes, this IS the same song that was a hit for Jefferson Airplane, when Grace and Derby Slick were with The Great Society, before they created Jefferson Airpalne.

A somewhat subdued, slower version of this song. Fantastic lyrics. "Tears are running down your face, and your friends, they treat you like a guest. Don't you want somebody to love? Don't you need somebody to love? Would you love somebody to love? You'd better find somebody to love."

The measured, moody guitar playing on this and the laidback, intimate drums still send shivers up my spine! Grace slicks diction on this song is curiously proper and pointed, although she puts a strange emphasis on some words that really point up the pathos of this song of loneliness. And it's interesting how the very start of this track is very, very similar to "Sailing" by Rod Stewart. Coincidence, of course.

Track 16 Prophecy by The Head Shop. Atmospheric organ music! Weird strings! Harps! Heavenly choir! Overblown lyrics, that really should have been vocalised by Vincent Price!

Track 17 Lollipop Shoppe You Must be a Witch. Sounding more like a garage band, rather than a true denizen of the psychedelic underground.A sort of whiney song about a girl who "must be a witch." Could have been sing by any band, any where, any time.

Track 18 The Glass Family Electric Band, Agorn (Elements of Complex Variables.) When there's a might long guitar solo, someone hitting a percussion instrument of some kind, and someone 's beating on the drums whilst someone randomly shouts: "Hey!" you know you are in trouble! Eventually someone else starts playing a few desultory electric organ keys. ("Ooh! I liked THOSE two notes! I'll repeat them a few times, then I'll hold THIS one down for a long time, before I twiddle it a bit!") Good fun but eminently pretentious!

I can heartily recommend this album. It's a real blast. (Yeah, showin' my age!)
 

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