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 meditating transcendentally from 150 to 126...
150. The Monkees- "P.O.Box 9847" (1968), in which Boyce and Hart finally get to produce a Monkees record again after a long hiatus but The Monkees take all the credit.
149. Lyme & Cybelle- "Follow Me" (1966), in which Warren Zevon makes a record that does not involve any full-moon howling.
148. Love- "The Daily Planet" (1967), in which Siegel and Shuster miss the opportunity to sue a rock band.
147. The Zombies- "Hung Up on a Dream" (1968), in which The Zombies give you the what-for with their giant Mellotron.
146. Love- "You Set the Scene" (1967), in which there's no such thing as too much Love.
145. The Monkees- "Can You Dig It?" (1968), in which Peter Tork writes a piece of Turkish-rock so mesmerizing that he can't even sink it by giving it the laziest hippie sloganeering title imaginable.
144. The Zombies- "Care of Cell 44" (1968), in which The Zombies are simply thrilled their girlfriend is finally getting out of jail where she was presumably serving time for something other than multiple homicides.
143. The Jimi Hendrix Experience- "The Wind Cries Mary" (1967), in which Hendrix is so broken up about a break up that he even gets the wind's sympathy. You know how hard that is to get?
142. The Turtles- "She's My Girl" (1967), in which The Turtles got to spend last night getting high and having sex and spend the following morning rubbing it in your face.
141. The Monkee- "Randy Scouse Git" (1967), in which Micky Dolenz writes a completely insane piece of music hall/jazz scatting/maniacal screaming pop and The Monkees are rewarded with their second biggest hit in England.
140. The Beatles- "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967), in which The Beatles instantly render everything but psychedelia completely irrelevant for the entire summer of 1967... I don't care how big of a hit "Windy" was!
139. The Doors- "Light My Fire" (1967), in which The Doors take a simple pop song into psych territory by not knowing when to stop jamming on it.
138. Procol Harum- "Salad Days (Are Here Again)" (1967), in which Procol Harum manage to move you to tears with a lyric that is absolute nonsense.
137. The Hollies- "Would You Believe" (1967), in which The Hollies perfectly convey how big it feels to fall in love.
136. The Doors- "Riders on the Storm" (1971), in which serial killing becomes fodder for a psychedelic soft-rock epic.
135. Procol Harum- "Kaleidoscope" (1967), in which Procol Harum celebrate a colorful children's toy but they still sound as black and white as their album cover.
134. The Who- "Our Love Was" (1967), in which Townshend's fuzz pedal storms a love-in and there are no survivors.
133. Syd Barrett- "Octopus" (1970), in which the madcap laughs.
132. The Kinks- "See My Friends" (1965), in which The Kinks invent raga rock and seethe whenever George Harrison gets the credit.
131. The Beatles- "Getting Better" (1967), in which a casual reference to wife beating is not enough to derail the absolute joy of the Fab Four.
130. The Kinks- "Misty Water" (1968), in which a family of Wicked Annabellas brew up some moonshine.
129. The Move- "What?" (1970), in which The Move are drowned in a vat of phasing and echo.
128. Dantalian's Chariot- "Madman Running Through the Fields" (1967), in which things go okay, and then one day, POW!
127. Syd Barrett- "Gigolo Aunt" (1970), in which the sister of Syd Barrett's mom decides on a change of career.
126. The Zombies- "Time of the Season" (1968), in which The Zombies get their biggest hit a year after they break up and they're all like "D'oh!"
125. The Doors- "The Crystal Ship" (1967), in which one can make the very reasonable argument that The Doors were at their best when doing ballads (Exhibit B: the relatively unpsychedelic but even more enchanting "Yes, the River Knows").
Trip on to #125-101... (COMING SOON)
