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Kurt Sampsel:
June, 2004
T. Swift & the Electric
Bag
Are You Experienced
(Custom 1968?/Gear Fab 2001)
Like any other pop culture trend, the psychedelic
rock era was subject to exploitation. In the late 60s, loads
of exploito psych albums were recorded and released in an
attempt to cash in on the psychedelic fad. The quality of
much of this exploito psych is expectedly mediocre, but among
the dreck remain a few interesting period pieces. For instance,
the release of The Deep's 1966 album Psychedelic Moods:
A Mind Expanding Phenomena marked one of the first times
the word "psychedelic" was applied to recorded music,
and the directives on the back cover to "take a trip"
and "blow your mind" were pretty revolutionary in
the pre-Surrealistic Pillow era, as was the bizarre,
free-form music contained between the grooves.
Although obviously not as groundbreaking
as the Deep's album, this album, by T. Swift & the Electric
Bag, is also an interesting sample of exploito psych. Because
no credits were listed on the original Custom album, the identity
of the band remains largely a mystery, although some have
suggested links to the Texas group Tom Swift and the Electric
Grandmothers, who released a single a few years prior to the
release of this album.
Equally possible, however, is that Are
You Experienced was in fact recorded by a faceless group
of studio musicians, as was standard procedure for most exploitation
albums of the day. The album starts off with the title track,
a Jimi Hendrix cover featuring some clangy guitar and backward
tape effects, although the song's guitar freakout solo sounds
more like an audition for a garage band than a Hendrix performance.
The other two vocal tracks on this predominantly instrumental
album are "As I Grow into a Man", a decent folk-rock
tune, and "Take It Easy Baby", a soulfully-delivered
number which borrows heavily from The Classics IV's "Spooky".
Similar plagiarism is evident in the instrumental "A
Jet", a patently obvious rip-off of The Box Tops' trademark
hit "The Letter". Two of the other instrumentals
on the album, "The Stinger" and "The Strut",
seem rather unpsychedelic and feel somewhat out of place on
the album.
"The Stinger" sounds almost like
it was a leftover from an exploito surf album, and "The
Strut" is an R&B instrumental that makes the listener
wonder if Booker T. and T. Swift had more in common than just
an initial. Some of the other instrumentals are better, however.
"Red Eyes" and "What's Your Bag" feature
some nice guitar playing at times, and "Free Form in
6" includes some fine raga rock guitar leads and menacing
organ work. And for the album's closing track, "Expo
in Sound", the group layers guitar feedback, organ, and
other sound effects overtop an unaffected drum backbeat. As
a whole, *Are You Experienced* is neither exceptional nor
compulsory listening, but there's a certain naïve charm
about it that can transcend its roughness at times. It's certainly
worth a spin.
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The Matadors
(Self-Titled)
(Supraphon 1968/Bonton 1995)
http://eerock.boom.ru/Blue_Effect/Blue_Effect.html
Ever since its inception, rock 'n' roll was
seen as rebellious, subversive. But behind the Iron Curtain
in the late 1960s, rock was viewed as downright dangerous.
In many areas of the Eastern Bloc, the state supervised the
performance, recording, and marketing of rock music, and many
of the records released at the time appeared on state record
labels. The Matadors, from the former Czechoslovakia, were
luckier than their neighbors in places like Poland and Hungary,
where the government's interest in music was somewhat more
invasive.
Because of this relative artistic freedom,
the majority of the Matadors' repertoire was sung in English,
and they even included covers of many Western songs. Formed
in Prague in 1965 as The Fontanas, the group soon became quite
popular in the Czech capitol, and even ventured to East Germany,
where they were well received. After a name change to The
Matadors, the band soon took up residency at Prague's trendy
Olympic Club and began releasing records, culminating in a
self-titled album in 1968. This compact disc from the Czech
label Bonton collects the Matadors' entire recorded catalog,
including their album, singles, and other miscellaneous tracks,
adding up to twenty-four songs in total. The material on the
CD is of some diversity, including instrumentals, vocal tracks
sung in both Czech and English, and original material as well
as some interesting covers. Among the best covers are R&B
staples like "I Think It's Gonna Work out Fine",
John Mayall's "I'm So Lonesome", and a very wild
version of "Shotgun".
The Matadors also perform a pleasant version
of Smoky Robinson's "My Girl", and do a lovely reading
of Bob Dylan's oft-covered "It's All over Now, Baby Blue",
which is closely based on Them's cover version. While the
covers are undeniably good, the original material is of even
greater interest. Songs like "Hate Everything except
of Hattered" (or "hatred" as they correctly
sing), "Indolence", and "Get Down from the
Tree" (which was featured on Rhino's Nuggets II
compilation) are intense rock performances propelled by Radim
Hladík's killer lead guitar work and mystified by Jan
"Farmer" Obermajer's dark organ and Viktor Sodoma's
accented vocals. Other songs, like "Sing a Song of Sixpence"
and the instrumental "Extraction", are more psychedelic.
"Extraction", in fact, begs comparison to Pink Floyd's
lengthy instrumentals "Interstellar Overdrive" and
"A Saucerful of Secrets", sounding like both at
times during its five minutes and fifty-one seconds.
There is also a nice selection of simple
beat/pop tunes, like "Snad Jednou Ti Dám",
"You'll be Mine", and their version of "Farmer
John". The diversity of material on the CD gels rather
well, and while every track may not be killer, there are enough
great, powerful songs so that the not-so-great ones feel more
like letups than letdowns. The CD also provides an interesting
look into the state of rock music behind the Iron Curtain
in the late 1960s. Following the breakup of the Matadors,
lead guitarist Radim Hladík formed The Blue Effect,
who produced some interesting music merging psychedelia and
progressive rock, including the albums *Meditace* (1970) and
Kingdom of Light (1971), which may also be of interest
to readers.
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Various Artists
Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults
(Rhino Handmade 2004)
http://rhinohandmade.com/browse/ProductLink.lasso?Number=7821
From Rhino's limited-edition, internet-only
Rhino Handmade imprint comes yet another chapter in the Nuggets
story. Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the
WEA Vaults (like its sister compilation Come to the
Sunshine: Soft Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults) collects
late-60s material released on major labels like Warner Bros.,
Reprise, and Atlantic. Despite the fact that these were major-label
releases, however, one of the most immediately striking aspects
of this compilation is the obscurity of many of the artists
contained therein. Even the most seasoned Nuggets aficionados
will probably be unfamiliar with acts like Baker Knight &
The Knightmares, Adrian Pride, Ellen Margulies, The Salt,
and The Coronados, and yet, these and other such unknown artists
are responsible for some of the best songs on the compilation.
The liner notes reveal that some of the lesser-known
artists on Hallucinations were actually dedicated to
musical styles other than psychedelic pop, and that the psych
tunes they contribute are, in fact, stylistic detours from
their otherwise unpsychedelic musical careers. Baker Knight,
who contributes the brilliantly crafted psych-pop tune "Hallucinations",
was actually a specialist in rockabilly, and formed his backing
band The Knightmares way back in the 50s. The World Column,
creators of the mellow psychedelic groove "Lantern Gospel",
was actually an R&B band whose other work is now celebrated
by fans of Northern Soul. Jeff Thomas was a country-blues
musician, which perhaps explains the alienation expressed
by the straitlaced, conformist narrator of his self-penned
"Straight Aero".
And the bizarre, layered "How Nice?"
by the admittedly better-known Tokens is far removed from
the slick doo-wop of their best-known hit from a few years
prior, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". In addition to
a score of relative unknowns, however, there are indeed several
familiar faces too, like The Association, Kim Fowley, The
Bonniwell Music Machine, The Electric Prunes, The Monkees,
and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. There are a
number of highlights on Hallucinations, contributed
by well-known and unknown artists alike. The Next Exit's "Break
Away" is an interesting pop-psych tune that thematically
explores a dysfunctional family life, and includes some nice
vocal effects. Adrian Pride's excellent "Her Name is
Melody" is a dreamy, floating song underscored by some
Eastern-flavored guitar work. The Association's "Pandora's
Golden Heebie Jeebies" is an acknowledged psychedelic
classic, and is presented here in its original single mix,
highlighting its lovely, echoed vocal from Gary Alexander,
who also wrote the tune. Lee Mallory's "That's the Way
It's Gonna be", which was produced by Curt Boettcher,
is full of the kind of quirky, rich production for which Boettcher
has become known.
"House of Glass", from The Glass
Family's Warner Bros. Album Electric Band, is a driving,
sinister-sounding psych number reminiscent of The Doors in
some respects. There are, indeed, many high points on Hallucinations
(with no pun intended), and since these were major-label recordings,
they maintain a very high level of production, which is quite
enjoyable. Hallucinations includes productions by such
well-known talents as Don & Phil Everly, Lenny Waronker,
Joey Levine, Dave Hassinger, Richard Podolor, and the aforementioned
Curt Boettcher. The quality of the material on Hallucinations
is quite high, and the only real criticism that could be brought
up is that while most of the tracks are rare and obscure,
a few of them are easily available elsewhere on CD, in particular,
The Electric Prunes' "Antique Doll", The Bonniwell
Music Machine's "Astrologically Incompatible" and
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band's "Smell of
Incense". Many Nuggets aficionados will probably already
have these tracks on other CD's in their collections, and,
unlike with "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" and
The Monkees' "Porpoise Song", the mixes included
here are not notably different from that of other, widely
available releases. Despite this minor criticism, however,
this really is a release of great quality. The material is
quite strong (and much of it quite obscure), and the packaging
is lush, including a generous booklet full of pictures and
informative notes written by producer Andrew Sandoval. Any
psych fan will trip for Hallucinations.
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