GARY'S ALL-TIME TOP-TEN
(PSYCHEDELIC) RECORDS OF 1966
1. The Yardbirds - "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"
One of the few times the fabled Page vs. Beck sword fight was
actually captured on record, this sensational single's cacophonous
middle eight sported fog-shrouded mutterings, Telecastered police
sirens and an all 'round sinister whirlygig of sound which may very
well have helped keep it out of the top-10 at the time but that's
only because it was at least a quarter of a century ahead of itself.
2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Stone Free"
And on the subject of "New Frontiers In Sound," this first
Experience b-side did little to even hint at the wonders yet to come
from this most powerful of all power trios. But it certainly did take
brave new steps into the realm of hi-fidelity freakdom, not only
lyrically, but in its guitar solo (remember, this was only the second
time most record buyers on this planet had ever heard Jimi play!).
3. The Monkees - "Take A Giant Step"
Maybe it wasn't so weird after all that the Prefabs chose the
aforementioned Experience to open their Summer Of Love tour of the
Americas: snuck onto the backside of the very first Monkees release
a year earlier was this monumentally out-there Goffin/King ditty,
which to this day stands head and shoulders above most of its
contemporaries, on TV or otherwise. Try dancing to this one,
Monkeemen!
4. The Byrds - "2-4-2 Foxtrot (The Lear Jet Song)"
No dancing allowed here, either: in their grand tradition of
freaky, far-out-mannn album closers, The Byrds spared no expense to
record this tribute to their pal (and supersonic passenger plane
inventor) John Lear. To this day, McGuinn insists he dragged an
Ampex reel-to-reel clear out to Los Angeles International in order to
capture on tape the actual sounds of a Lear Jet preparing for vertical
take-off. Nevertheless, those in the know (especially those equipped
with high-tech headphones) hear the unmistakable shrill of a lowly
vacuum cleaner motor instead. Hoover or Regina? Jim and/or Roger
STILL isn't talking!
5. The Mothers Of Invention - "Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet"
Speaking of album-enders, wheezy home appliances are about
the only thing that can't be heard on this side-long climax to Zappa's
first full-length audio opus. Under the able direction of father of
psychedelic music himself -- pause for reverent applause -- Kim Fowley
("producer" Tom Wilson had already dashed out of the studio in
horror), Frank and his Mothers proceeded to spend an entire night
having a good old-fashioned freak out live and in color at the
Hollywood studios of MGM Records, as the tapes spun and the legal
department tried to find an escape clause in their contract with these
crazies. "Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands" you say? As always,
Frank did it first and better.
6. The Beach Boys - "Good Vibrations"
Meanwhile, elsewhere in LA, a no-less-crazed creator than
Brian Wilson was undertaking an equally grandiose project: a little
"pocket symphony for the kids" that employed all of the Beach Boy
hallmarks to date (brotherly chorale vocals, the best arrangements
this side of Pet Sounds) and then some, like the theremin, an
instrument heretofore heard only on the soundtracks of cheap
European horror movies. Six months and six-some-odd-hundred-
thousand-million-dollars later, Brian played the first mix-down of his
masterwork over the phone to new B.Boy Bruce Johnston. "When I
heard it, I knew we either had the record of our lives, or our career
was over," Bruce later revealed. And y'know, when you think about
it, he was right on both counts!
7. The Rolling Stones - "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?"
Bruce could have very well been talking about the final Stones
single of '66 as well: the pressure was on to top the magic "Paint It
Black," Brian Jones was about to begin his long, slow spiral towards
pool bottom, and producer/manager Andrew Loog Oldham was
determined to fulfill all of his Phil Spector fantasies on this one
penultimate uber-track. The fact that these initial sessions were
recorded on a tiny cassette machine didn't help matters much when
Decca Records, the band's home label, jumped the gun by pressing
and releasing an early, unapproved mix of this Herb
Alpert/Windowpane extravaganza. Still, most buyers were too busy
gawking at the brilliant Stones-in-drag-on-Park-Avenue picture
sleeve photo to take much notice of the bloody, muddy sounds
housed therein. Good thing too!
8. The Who - "Cobwebs And Strange"
Rushing to complete their second album in time for the lucrative
Christmas shopping season, last year's Mods became this year's
Salvation Army Band on this Keith Moon (who else?) composed, uhhhh,
song which consisted of little more that Pete and pals marching
round and round a single microphone, apparently blowing forth
whatever notes happened to pop into their heads and out of their
mouths at the time. Yes, this may all seem quite quaint and silly
today, but it's my firm belief that if Townshend had allowed his
drummist to concoct at least one such ditty for Who's Next
onwards, the band -- not to mention dear, sweet Keith -- would
probably still be alive today and not on fuckin' Broadway either!
9. The Beatles - "Tommorow Never Knows"
Ahh yes, those guys! Well, if you can all ring the aftermath of
that rotten Anthology series out of your minds (especially those
two answer-machine tapes of John's they made singles out of), trip
on back instead to the glory daze of their crowning achievement
Revolver, and marvel at how positively contemporary this
particular song still sounds: with a rhythm track as loopy as
anything the Brothers Dust have yet come up with, drumming and
vocals Steve Albini circa In Utero would be proud to have created,
and just about the greatest Lennon vocal -- and lyrics -- ever, there
really was in retrospect nowhere to go but down for the mopheads
after this slab of pure, psycho-genius.
10. Napoleon XIV - "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Haa!"
I think I've just saved the best 'til last! Yes, not only did Jerry
Samuels (aka N-14), beat out the Last Poets by a good two years in
the quest to press the first-ever (psychedelic) rap record, he even
succeeded in putting the damn thing high up into the top-10 by
summer's end. For those of you who have unfortunately not yet
been exposed to this great, great record, I'm certainly not going to
attempt to describe it here in mere words: Suffice to say, its surface
aura of kooky MAD magazinesque novelty just barely masks the
disturbing, violent subtext of betrayal and revenge which lurks
behind each eerie thud of its lead-footed death-beat, making this just
about the coolest, creepiest and, yes, most psychedelic-flavored hit in
a year so well remembered for a multitude of such animals. And is it
true "Napoleon" now makes his living driving a cab? Somehow that
would seem a fitting conclusion to this all, would it not?
[ Return to the Dead Flowers
main music page | Return to the Dead Flowers homepage ]
© 2000 Sound Views. Last Revised: 6.27.00