Blues Magoos and Vanilla Fudge: What Makes a Psychedelic Record Psychedelic?
The record was poorly promoted by their record company who hyped them commercially in ways that seemed hokey and in-authentic. Nevertheless, the record was highly influential. For about six months the Magoos were apparently one of the hippest bands in the country, at least until heavier, more intense bands like the Doors took hold.
After exploring some other Blues Magoos recordings, we discussed what makes a psychedelic record and how the Magoos approach psychedelia, but fall a bit short at this point. In his book, Sixties Rock (University of Illinois Press. Chicago, 1999) Michael Hicks lays out some of what he thinks comprises psychedelic rock. His criteria includes slower tempos, longer songs, discordant bridges, unstable harmonies, feedback and distortion, counterpoint, multiple influences such as middle eastern, jazz and classical music, and the use of wah-wah guitar effects and others. Parts of some of the tracks on the Magoo's first release exhibit these characteristics, but it's not pervasive. In the context of our discussions, the Magoos' emerging sound is interesting to experience and de-construct. But, their record is not really a psychedelic record, simulating the hallucinatory experience of LSD.
At the end of class, just before it was time to close, I decided to play a 'bonus track' from an unrelated album, the Vanilla Fudge 1967 Billboard #6 Gold Record debut. I wanted my students to hear record that I thought captured the pschedelic sound and explored some of the concepts that Michael Hicks raises in his book. Unlike many other psychedelic bands, the Fudge were essentially a very ambitious cover band that played with the structures of familiar - and popular - rock and pop songs of the day.
From the first cut we heard last night, listening to the Fudge was revelatory. Check out their take on the Beatles' 'Ticket to Ride' and Sonny Bono's 'Bang Bang' - made famous by Quentin Tarentino in the opening scenes of Kill Bill in Nancy Sinatra's hit 1967 version. In fact, play the whole darned record - its great! Play it loud - through headphones if you have - and give it time.
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