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 being crowned lizard king from 350 to 326...
350. The Beatles- "Magical Mystery Tour" (1967), in which The Beatles introduce a glorified home movie of their recent vacation that has led many a Beatlemaniac to opine, "Well, at least the music is nice."
349. The Pretty Things- "The Sun" (1967), in which a horde of unwashed, acid-gobbling monsters with the longest hair in Britain sing an elegant baroque pop ode to our nearest star.
348. Traffic- "Dear Mr. Fantasy" (1967), in which Traffic meet Mr. Fantasy and expect him to just sing them a nice tune, clearly not counting on all the mind-altering drugs he intends to pump into their system.
347. The Kinks- "Fancy" (1966), in which The Kinks create a perfect raga-rock confection without ever touching an actual sitar.
346. The End- "Under the Rainbow" (1969), in which The End seem blissfully unaware that their title will one day be misused for a terrible Chevy Chase/Carrie Fisher vehicle.
345. The Move- "Flowers in the Rain" (1967), in which The Move promote a bubblegummy pop smash with a groovy art nouveau postcard depicting the Prime Minister naked in bed with his secretary.
344. The Monkees- "Star Collector" (1967), in which The Monkees start two trends: (1) using Moog synth in psychedelic rock and (2) criticizing the groupies rock bands so enjoyed.
343. The Yardbirds- "Evil Hearted You" (1965), in which The Yardbirds are at the forefront of psychedelia a good year before it really took off.
342. Love- "Orange Skies" (1966), in which Bryan MacLean is the sweet sherbert to Arthur Lee's salty chips.
341. Tommy James and the Shondells- "I Am a Tangerine" (1968), in which Tommy James gets so fucking high he doesn't even know his own Linnaean classification!
340. The Doors- "End of the Night" (1967), in which The Doors make a recording far spookier, more concise, and less pretentious than "The End" and don't even get credit for being better than themselves.
339. Roger Nichols Trio- "Montage Mirror" (1967), in which the guy who co-wrote the repellantly sappy "We've Only Just Begun" does some pretty credible psych.
338. Donovan- "The River Song" (1968), in which Donovan gets all mystical about a common body of water.
337. The Turtles- "Sound Asleep" (1968), in which The Turtles get zany, because that was their favorite thing to do.
336. Paul Revere and the Raiders- "1001 Arabian Nights" (1966), in which Paul Revere and the Raiders save a bundle on sitar expenses by just making the instrument's sounds Bobby-McFerrin style.
335. The Turtles- "Earth Anthem" (1968), in which The Turtles experience a brief moment of sincerity to take a stand for Mother Earth.
334. The Rolling Stones- "Gomper" (1967), in which every boring jackass starts whining about how The Rolling Stones should never do anything but shit that sounds like Chuck Berry or Muddy Waters.
333. Small Faces- "That Man" (1967), in which Small Faces take a sharp left turn from blistering British R&B into mind-melting acid rock.
332. The Jimi Hendrix Experience- "Little Wing" (1967), in which Hendrix beautifully serenades a disembodied bird limb.
331. Jefferson Airplane- "Plastic Fantastic Lover" (1967), in which Marty Balin witheringly serenades a TV.
330. The Left Banke- "Ivy Ivy" (1967), in which Michael Brown releases a psych ballad under the name of the band he is no longer a member of and no one cares because it's so enchanting. Well, maybe the band cares. I don't know.
329. The Jimi Hendrix Experience- "One Rainy Wish" (1967), in which Hendrix gets hung up on a very unnatural flower.
328. Family- "Never Like This" (1968), in which Roger Chapman decides he likes a girl despite his initial misgivings, which are partially sparked by seeing her dad play with Legos.
327. Blossom Toes- "I'll Be Late for Tea" (1967), in which Blossom Toes fret over missing out on their daily repast of Earl Grey and scones.
326. Cream- "Swlabr" (1967), in which Cream use an initialism that no one could possibly pronounce to express an idea ("she walks like a bearded rainbow") that no one could possibly understand.
Trip on to #325-301... (COMING SOON)
