Psychobabble's Psychedelic 500: #75 - 51

Welcome back to Psychobabble's Psychedelic 500, in which I count my personal fave psych songs from 500 all the way down to #1! Today, let's see what's picturing itself in a boat on a river from 75 to 51...

75. The Pretty Things- "S.F. Sorrow Is Born" (1968), in which S.F. Sorrow is born.

Review: Muddy Waters's 'Muddy, Brass & Blues' (Chess Acoustic Sounds Edition)

With his third proper album, Muddy Waters shifted into very different territory, which was signaled to anyone who bothered to look at the record's title. Waters fattened his usual arrangement with a beefy horn section for Muddy, Brass & Blues. The prominent brass and woodwinds, plus the way producers George Barge and Ralph Bass pumped Willie Smith's drums and Calvin James's electric bass up in the mix, give the record a soul flavor, though the songs stick close to the blues formula. 

Review: 'Looney Tunes Collector's Vault-Volume 3'

Looney Tunes shorts have been repackaged and repackaged on DVD and Blu-ray, and it can be a real task trying to make sense of the various golden collections, platinum collections, showcase collections, spotlight collections,  collector's choice collections, and on and on. There's a lot of overlap, although many of these sets will also draw in fans of animated wise-assery because they offer some unique cartoons. 

Review: 'The Hammer Horror Omnibus'

Hammer horror was always more about aesthetics and the enthralling presence of the studio's big stars than story. What is Hammer without all of that crimson house-paint blood, those lush Victorian sets, the decayed Gothic castles and cemeteries, and the enthralling presence of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee? 

Review: 'Howlin' Wolf' (Chess Acoustic Sounds Edition)

Like his first album, Howlin' Wolf's second was a collection of singles, but Moanin' in the Moonlight's tracks were culled from a near-decade of recording. His self-titled sophomore (often called "The Rockin' Chair Album" because of its cover photo) featured tracks from a much tighter time period: 1960-1962. Ironically, there's more of a diverse spirit on Howlin' Wolf than there was on Moanin'. This is immediately apparent as the record zips from the frenetic clattering of "Shake for Me" to the slow grind of "The Red Rooster" to the intense chugging of "You'll Be Mine" to the rustic bop of "Who's Been Talking?" to the romping "Wang Dang Doodle" and on through other major classics like "Spoonful", "Down in the Bottom", "Back Door Man", and "Tell Me". All this makes for a livelier listen than Moanin' in the Midnight, a terrific album in its own right but one that feels a bit grey in light of Howlin' Wolf's multi-colors.

Review: 'Punk in 50 Pieces'

Speaking as someone who has written one, books with titles like The Story of (insert band, genre, medium, era, etc.) in (insert number) Songs/Albums are often driven by ulterior motives. In my case, I had about 700 album reviews and used this format to shape them into what I hope was a fairly cohesive history of the rock LP called 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute. I don't know how successful I was, and I do know that the storytelling wandered off course pretty regularly, but I did make an effort to maintain that historical aspect throughout the book even though my real motivation was to turn all those reviews into a book. 

Psychobabble's Psychedelic 500: #100 - 76

Welcome back to Psychobabble's Psychedelic 500, in which I count my personal fave psych songs from 500 all the way down to #1! Today, let's see what's behind the Joke Wall from 100 to 76...

100. The Monkees- "Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?" (1968), in which Peter Tork feels it's necessary to state the obvious.

Review: 'R.E.M.: A Perfect Circle'

By early 1989 R.E.M. had thoroughly broken out of mere college radio-stardom and achieved the more mainstream variety, having scored two genuine top-ten hits on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. That same year, Tony Fletcher published Remarks, the kind of slim, photo-heavy biography that tended to follow an artist's ascent at the time. Over the years, Remarks swelled and shed names, coming closer to the serious, in-depth biography called R.E.M.: A Perfect Circle published in 2013. R.E.M. had officially broken up two years earlier, and Fletcher vowed that milestone was a good excuse to call it quits with further updates. 

Review: Joan Jett's 'Bad Reputation' (45th Anniversary Edition)

Just a year out of The Runaways, Joan Jett put out her first album, and its strongest cuts made it clear that she was refreshed and ready to get back down to work. With its balance between covers and self-penned originals, Bad Reputation recalled early-sixties LPs, as did the songs she selected to adapt. If "Shout" and "Wooly Bully" seemed more fitting for a bar band than a heavy hitter, at least Jett's sneering rendition of Leslie Gore's "You Don't Own Me" gave her something to sink her fangs into and emphasize that she wasn't going to be anyone's dolly bird. She doubled down on that stance with her own compositions, especially "You Don't Know What You Got", "Jezebel", and "Don't Abuse Me". 

Psychobabble's Psychedelic 500: #125 - 101

Welcome back to Psychobabble's Psychedelic 500, in which I count my personal fave psych songs from 500 all the way down to #1! Today, let's see what's following the White Rabbit from 125 to 101...

124. The Turtles- "You Showed Me" (1968), in which The Turtles take an old folk-rock tune The Byrds couldn't be bothered to release and turn it into something sinister and majestic.