The term "psychedelic" was coined by LSD
researcher Humphry Osmond in a letter to Aldous Huxley in the mid-50s.
They were searching for a word to describe the effects of mind-altering
chemicals like LSD and mescaline. Bear these origins in
mind when considering the concept of psychedelic music. The first media use of the word in connection
with rock music occurred in February 1966 in an Austin newspaper article on the
13th Floor Elevators, who also had it on their business cards. So, let's recap: Osmond, Huxley, Donovan, 13th Floor Elevators, Fugs, The Deep, all before the term became mainstream vernacular. Beyond the word itself, in 1961, early L.A. surf band The Gamblers release the A-side 45 "Moon Dawg," b/w "LSD-25," a song far from the psychedelic, nonetheless; the name randomly given the track by an L.A. D.J. (You decide it it counts.) Alan Watts released the This Is IT LP in 1962, a combination of spoken word and chant, at one point culminating in "Loveyouloveyouloveyou," which fades in a swirl of echo-y sound effects. John Densmore's 1st band, The Psychedelic Rangers, formed early in 1965, around the same time as the recording of "Sunshine Superman," while Virginia City, Nevada's The Charlatans were the first band to perform under the influence of LSD. As can be noted, the complexity of the scene and the simultaneity is often hard to pinpoint. Maybe squeeze Kim Fowley's "The Trip" 45 between Donovan and the 13th Floor Elevators. Maybe add "Norwegian Wood;" by mid 1965, there was a cacophony of psychedelia.
Psychedelic
Psoul, the lone contribution by The Freak Scene, was a fascinating
mid-60s curio, made up of songs interspersed with spoken word vignettes that
address the hot-button issues of the time – Vietnam, civil rights,
the plight of hippies. The topical spoken word vignettes haven't aged
well, but several of the tracks have lasting appeal. "A Million Grains of
Sand," "Rose of Smiling Faces" and "My Rainbow Life" exemplify the Indian
influence that dominated the Summer of Love, with its mystical
lyrics and swirling strings.
The Freak Scene was the creation of Rusty Evans, a folksinger who got his start recording rockabilly for Brunswick Records. Evans was responsible for several albums by pseudo-bands, Monkees-style, that were, in actuality, Evans and a group of studio musicians. The Freak Scene was the second of Evans' psych-pop groups, following on the heels of The Deep, and featuring many of the same musicians who played on the The Deep's The Psychedelic Mood.
By far the best offering on Psychedelic Psoul is "The Subway Ride Through Inner Space," which somehow manages to mash-up the
stream-of-conscious lyrical quality of Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick
Blues" and George Harrison's sitar-heavy Beatles tracks, all atop looping, hypnotic rhythms. No one will deny the impact of Pink Floyd or The Beatles with regard to psychedelia, but tone it down to an L.A. tract home neighborhood with teens smoking pot behind the garage, and you've got The Freak Scene.
