Awesome psychedelic songs by (generally) non-psych bands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_h4bjwCT_0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AusxenG8uno

Nary a backwards guitar on any Kinks song.

do backwards vocals count?

Plus, I'm reasonably certain none of them ever dropped acid.

true of many "psychedelic" bands

do backwards vocals count?

Ah, right...backwards piano, too, I think (on "Autumn Almanac").

Are Husker Du a psych band? Shout out to Dreams Reoccurring if not

I'd say they had some psychedelic content - "Lazy Old Sun," for example. I don't think of Something Else era Kinks as being "a psych band" per se, though.

always been partial to pictures of matchstick men by status quo. a bit bubblegum for a psych song, and not a total one off - i believe they had at least one album in a psych vein before changing to "boogie rock"

I love Lazy Old Sun

Nary a backwards guitar on any Kinks song. Plus, I'm reasonably certain none of them ever dropped acid.

I bet you Dave did. Nonetheless, I think the Kinks count as a non-psych band.

mid-60s Kinks (Face to Face, Something Else, We Are the Village Green Preservation Society + assorted EPs/singles) are all peak UK psychedelia imo. Fit right in with the Beatles, Donovan, the Bee Gees, the Stones, Small Faces, etc.

Face to Face yeah but I'm not so sure about the other two. Despite some stuff like "Phenomenal Cat" I've always thought those albums were a bit anti-psych considering the fact that they were a British Invasion band. Not to mention Muswell Hillbillies and pretty much everything they did after that.

I think the Edwardian music hall thing the Kinks had going on was subtly different from the average UK psychedelic band - much less of an affectation.

Let's not forget "Fancy" though, that was pretty damned psychedelic!

some very arbitrary distinctions being drawn here.

for one thing practically every British Invasion band - the Hollies, the Kinks, the Stones, the Beatles, the Small Faces, the Yardbirds - temporarily became a psych band in short order.

To quibble slightly, the Small Faces were not a British Invasion band, were about 5 years younger and took a shitload of acid.

But, yes, bands did go 'psychedelic', I don't think the Kinks ever did fully though.

I'll grant that the Kinks carved out a very distinctive niche but too much of the stuff from the releases I cited feature various hallmarks of UK 60s psych - the fairytales, the music hall trappings, the Indian diversions, satirical character sketches, etc. I'm not saying they weren't distinct or unique (they were!) but just because they carved their own path through the psychedelic overgrowth of the era doesn't mean they weren't a part of it. I will grant that they relied less on the novelty record tricks that others went overboard on - backwards everything, sped up/slowed down tracks, fuzz guitars, phasing/flanging effects, etc. - but they dipped their toes in those rivers too (lol @ the sped up voice on "Phenomenal Cat" for ex.), just not as much.

question for the floor: is "journey of the sorcerer" psychedelic?

no

too much of the stuff from the releases I cited feature various hallmarks of UK 60s psych - the fairytales, the music hall trappings, the Indian diversions, satirical character sketches, etc.

There is fairytale stuff in Kinks? I think the distinction, in part, is that Kinks usually had a sociopolitical aspect. It was rarely, if ever, abstractness for its own sake.

Reminded of the Ray Davies review of Revolver that appeared in Disc and Music Echo. Said, "I just don't like the electronic stuff." Didn't like Yellow Sub or Eleanor Rigby. (Liked "Good Day Sunshine.")

Rainy Day in June
Wicked Annabella
Phenomenal Cat

Five Americans: "7:30 Guided Tour"

Johnny Winter: "Birds Can't Row Boats"

Superdrag, "The Art of Dying"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCNORo_tmKs

The Kinks’ purest psychedelic moment may be “Australia” for its musical setting. Davies’ lyrics were never about hallucinatory consciousness-expansion, though. It’s a stretch to call the Kinks “psychedelic” even by the loose standards by which that word is tossed around.

Link Wray: The Sky is Falling
Mott the Hoople: You Really Got Me
Steve Hunter: Eight Miles High

Also, maybe:
Peter Cook & Dudley Moore: The L.S. Bumble Bee
The Cramps: Beautiful Gardens
Van Morrison: And It Stoned Me
Yo La Tengo: Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind
Paul Roland: Meadows of the Sea
Moby Grape: It’s a Beautiful Day Today

Yellow Magic Orchestra - Lotus Love

Hate to quibble but uh... if Moby Grape is not a psych band, who is?

My take on this would be chuck Berry’s “Concerto in B Goode” - could be a Can outtake

Can a mod just change this thread title to “what makes a song psychedelic”?

sitar-y sounds

phasing fx

good thread concept imo

Mellow psychedelia until it lets loose about 5 min in

https://youtu.be/cBG11b-nyCs

Low - Poor Sucker

https://youtu.be/ob0CILJ93bA

A number of songs on this excellent album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARAcJgWFGB4

herman's hermits - blaze

https://img.discogs.com/4Sgkfjmvb3qaYWOdcSCTkBtLdDM=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1152084-1371348081-4335.jpeg.jpg

particularly "moonshine man"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od03nUU0J60

have to imagine there's a whole discussion of "fake psychedelia" elsewhere on ILM

anyway did the hollies ever get heavier than this ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEj0MBhC_7g
the hollies - maker

you'd also have to include chad & jeremy's LP "of cabbages and kings" and "in our image" by the everly bros.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6W4dnD8LkE
everly bros. - glitter and gold

...

lol @ the kinks being a psychedelic band, are you HIGH or something ??

Nancy and Lee - Some Velvet Morning

lots of the so called "baroque pop" acts cross the line sometimes towards psychedelic pop

in this thread the Kinks are psychedelic and Moby Grape is not psychedelic, which tbh makes this thread kinda psychedelic

also someone said Van and Astral Weeks is more deeply truly powerfully psychedelic then a boatload of Austin Powers ass lookin boys twee bullshit

That CCR thing way up there is bitchin'. So is this Youtube comment:

"With this masterpiece the CCR proved, even without a single word, they were not only virtuoso musicians - they were profound philosophers, too."

Was gonna cite 'Daily Nightly' by the Monkees but then realized they have several other songs that fit this bill and then subsequently questioned whether they might not actually be a psych band and then my head exploded into a cloud of multicolored flower petals.

Basically the entirety of Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete.

This really depends on how one defines psych music. I like what Michael Hicks says on the subject,

"To understand what makes music stylistically "psychedelic," one should consider three fundamental effects of LSD: dechronicization, depersonalization, and dynamization. Dechronicization permits the drug user to move outside of conventional perceptions of time. Depersonalization allows the user to lose the self and gain an "awareness of undifferentiated unity." Dynamization, as (Timothy) Leary wrote, makes everything from floors to lamps seem to bends, as "familiar forms dissolve into moving, dancing structures"... Music that is truly "psychedelic" mimics these three effects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_music

But beyond that, great psych music by generally non-psych bands? I'd go with this killer double A side 45, "Walking Through My Dreams/Defecting Gray" by The Pretty Things, even if it doesn't check all of Hicks' tick boxes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ailY08G6hhc

I feel like I'd have to loosen up quite a bit wrt that set of standards (otm though they may be) or nothing beyond Orb's 'We're Pastie to be Grill You' would qualify.

this thread is nonsensical

Sweet, bro, your dose is finally kickin' in.

genre definitions are by nature porous and contextual. The way I break psychedelia down has to do with specific periods and geographies for which the term was widely deployed, at the time that music was being made. And then considering what the common characteristics/identifying markers were for music made within that period and place. What was considered "psychedelic" in the UK in '66-'68 is pretty wildly different from what was considered "psychedelic" in the US during the same period. Similarly that stuff bears little resemblance to later electronic music dubbed "psychedelic". The term is fluid - the only thing that makes a track more "authentically" psychedelic than another is how much it conforms to what was considered "psychedelic" at that particular time/place.

Which is relevant to the thread question, because in the vast majority of cases musicians *moved through* psychedelia, like a costume that was put on and then discarded after it had outlived its usefulness. Some bands committed more heavily than others (the Beatles), some bands may have only made one or two songs in an attempt to cash-in (too many to mention), some bands sprang forth fully formed as psych bands but then moved on (Pink Floyd), some were on the periphery but definitely dabbled (the Kinks), some just followed along with the crowd for awhile (the Rolling Stones). But *all* of that stuff shares common technical approaches, themes, musical vocabularies that are readily identifiable.

With UK psych I think Andy Partridge's truism that it consisted primarily of British R&B bands + novelty record effects + nostalgia for childhood signifiers. Which manifested itself as songs about tea time, mythological and historical figures, WWI/WWII, etc. with an instrumental palette expanded beyond the standard guitars/bass/drums to include tape effects, classical orchestration, Indian/Asian elements, electronics, fuzz pedals, studio trickery. And beyond that is the presentation of the music itself - the Carnaby Street clothes, the day-glo art nouveau record sleeves, TV performances with spinning moire patterns, etc. To my ears (and eyes), anything that ticks a bunch of these boxes qualifies as UK 60s psych, and would have been considered such at the time.

US 60s psych is a whole different thing, of course.

With UK psych I think like Andy Partridge's

it's the thread where people list all kind of random shit for no reason but clutch their pearls if I suggest the Kinks had a psych period.

Did think that odd. Would have thought there were a couple lps there at least sound pretty much of the period. So would've included.

d) features "weird" sounds like stereo panning or has "dynamics" or similar

Interesting thing about Can is that they didn't use echo/delay and 'psychedelic' effects like stereo panning and phasing - apart from on "Tago Mago", which is why parts of that album sound kind of dated? In my opinion!

Slightly bemused in general by the idea of Can being some sort of avatar of psychedelia when so much of their music is based on minimalism and avoidance of excess - yes, granted they've got the improvisational jamming aspect too. So "Mother Sky" has the wild acid rock guitar but listen to the bass and drums, where does that fit into 'psychedelia'?

^ this is basically my point about that Smashing Pumpkins song

Do you consider, say, Nothing's Shocking to be psychedelic?
― BeerAdvocate in the streets, Wookiepedia in the sheets (morrisp), Monday, January 6, 2020 5:29 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki5KsuP3mzM

I once played with a pine cone for a good forty minutes while listening to this album

also off topic but

well if you want a friend feed animal

right on

feed ANY animal

Slightly bemused in general by the idea of Can being some sort of avatar of psychedelia when so much of their music is based on minimalism and avoidance of excess - yes, granted they've got the improvisational jamming aspect too. So "Mother Sky" has the wild acid rock guitar but listen to the bass and drums, where does that fit into 'psychedelia'?

― Frozen Mug (Tom D.)

file next to "pink floyd", i believe

Obviously there is a divide in this thread about whether psychedelic is a feeling or a carved-in-stone genre signifier, but I just wanted to vouch on behalf of Smashing Pumpkins that the bassline in the second chorus of Rhinoceros does feel very "60s psych". It's got that walking "Hey Joe" quality.

Cellophane Symphony by Tommy James and the Shondells

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qNQXb18l8g

classic example, love that record

Country rock outfit Goose Greek Symphony open side two of their 1970 debut with this insane track..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TB-rvitI50

Slightly bemused in general by the idea of Can being some sort of avatar of psychedelia when so much of their music is based on minimalism and avoidance of excess - yes, granted they've got the improvisational jamming aspect too. So "Mother Sky" has the wild acid rock guitar but listen to the bass and drums, where does that fit into 'psychedelia'?

― Frozen Mug (Tom D.)

file next to "pink floyd", i believe

― revenge of the jawn (rushomancy), Monday, January 6, 2020 8:27 PM (two days ago)

The argument about Can's psychedelic aspect is totally understandable, but I think Tom's mention of minimalism as something separate is important. That's why I brought up the Velvet Underground, for their minimalism and their avant-garde aspects that were more from the art world and that predate psychedelia. So, I think that is true also not only of Can's minimalism, but their own avant-garde aspects. If "The Murder Mystery" is more art-world avant garde than it is psychedelic, than surely "Mother Upduff" is, too.

I've always thought "Mother Upduff" sounds like it was inspired by the Mothers' "Help, I'm a Rock". An aside there.

Yeah, another band in that mix. But you could substitute "European Son" and "Father Cannot Yell" in my comparison.

I know that I'm far from alone in finding that music psychedelic.
& that isn't going to change any time soon.

like i know there's this ongoing tension as to whether or not we're having this discussion seriously but to me "psychedelia" isn't this thing that magically appeared on haight street (or, you know, in texas) in 1966, i feel like it's a false dichotomy and that "minimalism" is an authentic part of the psychedelic movement, fuck i'd call the silver apples psychedelic as all hell. i just don't get the hair-splitting, i mean are there people here who want to argue whether or not "flight reaction" by the calico wall or "back seat '38 dodge" by opus i belong more to the worlds of "the avant-garde" or psychedelia? do "the murder mystery" and "what's become of the baby" not belong to the same genre because the bands fucking hated each other and didn't at all go to the same parties? i mean, where are we coming at this from?

There’s a solid connection between minimalism and psychedelia. The minimalists’ repetition and drones create unusual effects such as time dilation for the listener, the same way as do Indian ragas and other Eastern musics associated with psychedelia. Just consider Terry Riley. Lou Reed alludes to Eastern music’s repetition in an essay written in 1966: http://velvetforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=145408

I know that I'm far from alone in finding that music psychedelic.
& that isn't going to change any time soon.

Kinda don't think the thread is about persuading you either way.

Ben Shepherd from Soundgarden seems to bring out the more psychedelic side of that band, Switch Opens and She Likes Surprises especially.

5 million elvis fans can't be wrong, the king is trippy as balls

Interesting thing about Can is that they didn't use echo/delay and 'psychedelic' effects like stereo panning and phasing - apart from on "Tago Mago", which is why parts of that album sound kind of dated? In my opinion!

Not sure I agree with the premise here. While Tago Mago is where Can really went all out with studio effects, tracks like "Future Days," "Bel Air," and "Chain Reaction" variously use tremolo, phasing, hard panning, field recordings, etc and strike me as very psychedelic in a mellow, balmy way.

looool this thread, well done ilm. I came here to post Blondie's "Fade Away and Radiate," and "Shadow" by The Primitives, a trippy little bit of Indian-sounding psych amongst the pop punk nuggets of Lovely and find 200+ posts of harshed mellow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs6RLx8Jujo

Not sure I agree with the premise here. While Tago Mago is where Can really went all out with studio effects, tracks like "Future Days," "Bel Air," and "Chain Reaction" variously use tremolo, phasing, hard panning, field recordings, etc and strike me as very psychedelic in a mellow, balmy way.

In a subtler, less corny way, for sure. By the way, "Chain Reaction" mellow and balmy, are you sure?

i mean, where are we coming at this from?

evidently everywhere and nowhere at the same time

There’s a solid connection between minimalism and psychedelia. The minimalists’ repetition and drones create unusual effects such as time dilation for the listener, the same way as do Indian ragas and other Eastern musics associated with psychedelia. Just consider Terry Riley.

I posted a Steve Reich piece upthread fwiw

I totally take the idea that minimalism was significant to psychedelia from Butterfield Blues Band's "East-West" to Silver Apples, etc. But I don't believe the appeal of minimalism proper, Reich/Glass etc., was altogether to do with its psychedelic aspect. I think there's an element of it that maybe comes more from 20th century moves away from composer-dominated content, starting in music with serialism and into Cage and which you see in other art forms (surrealist techniques, abstract painting, etc.). And if I'm thinking about Reich's Four Organs, my base-level analysis of what kind of music it is would not be to say, "It's psychedelic music" (though it may have some commonality).

Similarly, one wouldn't say that Kurt Schwitters or Andre Breton were psychedelic writers. This colors my view of things like "European Son" and "Father Cannot Yell" in spite of the fact that one could rightly say that they are not dissimilar to "What's Become of the Baby." I definitely believe that there was an element of the Velvet Underground, and maybe Can too, that was intentionally NOT psychedelic. Is that not why the second and third VU albums had black and white covers? Is that not why "every color is bad???"

"That's what Jaki said"

This is precisely what, for me, distinguishes the cover of Monster Movie from, say, a Hawkwind album cover.

We had a thread recently where we were discussing how the Dead & VU were different, despite their similarities (or something).

I think They Might be Giants must fit into this, something like "See the Constellation" or "I'll Be Haunting You" scans as psych-rock to me which they are definitely not as a whole

"Where Do They Make Balloons?"

https://youtu.be/c9zG0mRvmaE

^^ pastoral psychedelia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_FTSVuyej4

When I was a kid I heard this weird psychedelic avant-garde violin piece by McKendree Spring on late night radio. I bought the album, only to discover the rest of it was decidedly UN-psychedelic wimpy folk-rock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSbZdd-PF7o

I was pleasantly surprised that the 50s Stars Who Tried to Adapt to the Psychedelic 60s video was sincerely appreciative rather than mocking.