Jul 2015 / The Human Zoo

One day not so long ago, I was looking at the Wikipedia entry on “Eight Miles High” by the Byrds – a song like this has its own article that (among other things) talks about various versions and covers of the song – and there was a quote in the introductory section from someone at Rolling Stone saying that this was the first psychedelic rock song.  I changed the intro and wondered how the RS guy could have thought that.  My comment started a discussion with another Wikipedian about this; I noted that the 13th Floor Elevators were advertising themselves as a psychedelic rock band the year before, and he countered that this doesn’t mean they were playing true psychedelic rock songs.  Anyway, the link to the Rolling Stone quote no longer pointed to anything, so now the introduction says this (I think the caveat “bona fide” was my idea):  “Accordingly, critics often cite ‘Eight Miles High’ as being the first bona fide psychedelic rock song.” 

I am a big fan of “Eight Miles High”; besides the original by the Byrds (the song was written by bandmembers Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn and David Crosby), Golden Earring recorded a side-long extended treatment of “Eight Miles High” that I simply love, and past UARB Index covered “Eight Miles High” on their first album. 

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According to Wikipedia:  “John Einarson has noted that the influence of [John Coltrane]’s saxophone playing and, in particular, his song ‘India’ from the Impressions album, can be clearly heard in ‘Eight Miles High’ — most noticeably in [Jim] McGuinn’s recurring twelve-string guitar solo.  In addition to this striking guitar motif, the song is also highlighted by Chris Hillman’s driving and hypnotic bass line, [David] Crosby’s chunky rhythm guitar playing, and the band’s ethereal harmonies.” 

Another important influence is the sitar music of Ravi Shankar, “particularly in the droning quality of the song’s vocal melody and in [Jim] McGuinn’s guitar playing” (as noted in Wikipedia).  The Byrds even brought a sitar with them to a press conference that was used to promote “Eight Miles High”, even though a sitar was not used in the recording. 

Ravi Shankar is an acknowledged master of the sitar and began promoting Indian classical music in 1956, including appearances at major music gatherings like the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival (Shankar’s first performance at a rock event) and the original Woodstock in 1969.   

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“Eight Miles High” is essentially a reference to an airplane ride; from Wikipedia:  “Although commercial airliners fly at an altitude of six to seven miles, it was felt that ‘eight miles high’ sounded more poetic than six and also recalled the title of the Beatles’ song ‘Eight Days a Week’. . . .  Other lyrics in the song that explicitly refer to the Byrds’ stay in England include the couplet:  ‘Nowhere is there warmth to be found / Among those afraid of losing their ground’, which is a reference to the hostile reaction of the UK music press and to the English group the Birds serving the band with a copyright infringement writ, due to the similarities in name.  In addition, ‘Round the squares, huddled in storms / Some laughing, some just shapeless forms’ describes fans waiting for the band outside hotels; while the line ‘Sidewalk scenes and black limousines’ refers to the excited crowds that jostled the band as they exited their chauffeur-driven cars.” 

Perceived drug references in the lyrics caused a broadcasting ban on “Eight Miles High” in the U.S. shortly after its release; and largely as a result, the song stalled at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #24 on the UK singles chart. 

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Still, the March 1966 release date for “Eight Miles High” seemed to me to be a little late; surely there are older psychedelic rock songs than this?  I hunted around and found plenty of earlier garage rock songs, but not many psychedelic rock songs.  There are older songs that have a spooky feel or unusual textures, such as one of my all-time favorites, “Funnel of Love” by Wanda Jackson (1961) that I have written about previously, “Sally Go ’Round the Roses” by the Jaynetts (1963), and the surf rock instrumental “Pipeline” by the Chantays (1963). 

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Wanda Jackson mentioned at her concert in Bay St. Louis in 2013 that “Funnel of Love” has attracted a lot of attention recently.  From Wikipedia:  “In an interview with Philadelphia Weekly, Jackson recounted that it was difficult identifying ‘Funnel of Love’ with a specific musical genre, stating that its style was not like that of a typical country or rock recording:  ‘It wasn’t country, it wasn’t rock, but we knew it was a good song.  So we made a good record on it.’” 

British soul singer Adele is one of the modern fans of Wanda Jackson and “Funnel of Love” in particular; from Wikipedia:  “According to Jackson, Adele mentioned to her that if she had not heard ‘Funnel of Love’, then her 2010 single ‘Rolling in the Deep’ may have never existed.  In 2010, Adele explained how Jackson’s music affected her:  ‘I got addicted to this Wanda Jackson hits album,’ says the singer.  ‘She’s so cheeky and so raunchy.  She’s kind of like the female Elvis:  really sexual, not afraid to embarrass herself.’  Adele’s interest in her music led to a stint as Jackson serving as her opening act in Britain between 2011 and 2012.” 

Wanda Jackson’s album Heart Trouble (2003) includes a new rendition of “Funnel of Love” and features as guest artists the Cramps, the alt-rockabilly punk rock band that often played the song in concert.  

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“Shapes of Things” by the Yardbirds is the first song written by the bandmembers that became a hit; it was released on February 25, 1966 and reached #3 on the UK singles chart and #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Richie Unterberger has written of this song for Allmusic:  “[Jeff Beck]’s guitar pyrotechnics came to fruition with ‘Shapes of Things’, which (along with the Byrds’ ‘Eight Miles High’) can justifiably be classified as the first psychedelic rock classic.” 

Another is the debut single by the 13th Floor Elevators called “You’re Gonna Miss Me”.  The song was released on January 17, 1966 (though its national release was not until May 1966) and climbed as high as #55 on the Billboard Hot 100.  One of the bandmembers, Tommy Hall (who played an instrument called an electric jug) is credited with coining the term “psychedelic rock”, although other rock bands were already referring to themselves as “psychedelic”, such as the Holy Modal Rounders and the Deep.   

Donovan’s first single “Catch the Wind” was released a full year before “Eight Miles High”, though his first song with a psychedelic vibe is “Sunshine Superman”, which came out in July 1966. 

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So what is “psychedelic rock” anyway?  I once described it as “music designed to be enjoyed while under the influence of psychotropic drugs such as marijuana and LSD”, but I never intended that to be a definition.  The way that the Wikipedia article on psychedelic rock starts isn’t much better:  “Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs.”  The article lists the pioneering bands as being the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and the Yardbirds. 

The word “psychedelic” is composed of two ancient Greek words that mean “mind-revealing”.  The word was coined in 1956 by Humphry Osmond, a psychiatrist who pioneered the promising use of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD in psychotherapy.  This quintessential hallucinogen was first synthesized in 1938 by Albert Hofmann from a compound found in the ergot fungus that commonly grows on rye florets and causes a condition called ergotism (also known as St. Anthony’s Fire) in humans and other mammals.  The widespread recreational use of LSD and other similar drugs in the 1960’s counterculture put the kibosh on any therapeutic uses for decades, although there have been some halting steps recently toward its revival in psychotherapy, since mental illness is every bit as intractable today as it was 60 years ago.  

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To my mind, the musical form that became psychedelic rock was built on the growing availability of gimmicks and gizmos that could greatly affect the sound of musical instruments and vocals.  I have already written of the 1956 rockabilly recording of “Train Kept A-Rollin’” by the Johnny Burnette Trio and the 1958 instrumental “Rumble” by Link Wray and His Ray Men that both used distortion to great effect.  

The October 1964 single by the Beatles, “I Feel Fine” (included on their album Beatles ’65) is credited as the first song to use feedback in a rock recording.  The band was about to leave the recording studio when John Lennon left his guitar resting against his amplifier, only to be greeted by a whine of sound.  A feedback note was then added to the very beginning of the song.  In one of his last interviews, John Lennon spoke proudly of this musical innovation:  “I defy anybody to find a record . . . unless it is some old blues record from 1922 . . . that uses feedback that way.  So I claim it for the Beatles.  Before [Jimi] Hendrix, before the Who, before anybody.  The first feedback on record.” 

The following year, as I wrote a couple of months back, Keith Richards ran his classic opening riffs for the Rolling Stones’ monster hit “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” through a fuzzbox, thus adding this to the rock repertoire. 

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Another fun effect is running the same or similar musical sections slightly out of synch; it is variously described as phasing and flanging.  The latter term was reportedly coined by John Lennon and is still in use today; it refers to sound effects caused by the manual or accidental slowing down of tape in a take-up reel, though the effect can be created electronically as well.  The Wikipedia article on flanging describes it this way:  “As an audio effect, a listener hears a ‘drainpipe’ or ‘swoosh’ or ‘jet plane’ sweeping effect as shifting sum-and-difference harmonics are created analogous to use of a variable notch filter.”  One of the earliest uses of phasing in rock music is the 1967 hit song by Small Faces, “Itchycoo Park”. 

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One of my favorite Beatles songs, “Tomorrow Never Knows” is the first of their songs to use flanging; though by the time of its release in August 1966, Wikipedia reports that almost every song on their album Revolver had been subjected to flanging. 

Anthology 2 includes the first take of “Tomorrow Never Knows”, and the liner notes give the history of this groundbreaking recording (although it is the final track on Revolver, it is actually the first song that the band worked on after taking off the first three months of 1966):  “Clearly refreshed, and full of yet more innovative ideas, they conveyed at EMI Studios on 6 April [1966] and began work on their seventh album, Revolver, with what turned out to be the closing and most progressive number, ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’.  Here was Beatles music the like of which had never before been heard . . . or made.  Here was a dramatic new direction for a musical form that was ceasing to be ‘pop’ and developing into ‘rock’.  Here was a thrilling orgy of sound, all the more inventive for being made within the confines of 1966 four-track technology, less reliant on melody but focusing more on the conveyance of mind-pictures on to tape.  ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ is all of this in a single piece of music, the released version (Take 3) being as stunning now as it was 30 years ago.  Recording under its working title, ‘Mark I’, Take 1, issued here for the first time, is notably different but, in its own way, just as compelling.  The Beatles’ music had indeed come a long way in the four years since ‘Love Me Do’.”  

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Using several of these sound tricks can be enough to completely change a song.  I am up to mid-2013 in loading up my Facebook posts into my website, and one song that I wrote about then is a long-time favorite called “Time Has Come Today” by the Chambers Brothers, which started out as an African-American gospel group.  The song was originally recorded in 1966 but had a completely different sound; it was next released on the band’s album The Time Has Come in November 1967 and became a hit single in 1968.  Wikipedia notes that it is “one of the landmark rock songs of the psychedelic era” and continues:  “Various effects were employed in its recording and production, including the alternate striking of two cow bells producing a ‘tick-tock’ sound, warped throughout most of the song by reverb, echo and changes in tempo.” 

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The Electric Prunes had two glorious psychedelic rock songs, with the first being “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)”; the title is a takeoff on having “too much to drink”.  Their producer Dave Hassinger considered their songwriting to be weak, so much of their material was written by others.  This song was written by two female songwriters, interestingly enough, Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz.  Tucker and Mantz also co-wrote five other songs on their debut album, The Electric Prunes, also known as I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night); one is based on a cigarette commercial, “Are You Lovin’ Me More (But Enjoying It Less)”.  Annette Tucker co-wrote their follow-up hit that had similarly unusual wording in the title, “Get Me to the World on Time” with yet another female songwriter, Jill Jones.  “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” made it to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, while their second hit was at #27; both songs just missed the Top 40 in the UK. 

“I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” too was blessed with some amazing effects; as described in Wikipedia:  “At the time, the Electric Prunes comprised singer James Lowe, lead guitarist Ken Williams, rhythm guitarist James ‘Weasel’ Spagnola, bassist Mark Tulin, and drummer Preston Ritter.  The oscillating, reversed guitar which opens the song originated from the rehearsals at [Leon] Russell’s house, where Williams recorded with a 1958 Gibson Les Paul guitar with a Bigsby vibrato unit.  According to Lowe, ‘We were recording on a four-track, and just flipping the tape over and re-recording when we got to the end.  Dave [Hassinger] cued up a tape and didn’t hit “record”, and the playback in the studio was way up:  ear-shattering vibrating jet guitar.  Ken had been shaking his Bigsby wiggle stick with some fuzztone and tremolo at the end of the tape.  Forward it was cool.  Backward it was amazing.  I ran into the control room and said, “What was that?”  They didn’t have the monitors on so they hadn’t heard it.  I made Dave cut it off and save it for later.’” 

“I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” by the Electric Prunes was brought to a larger audience when it became the opening track on the classic 1972 compilation album Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968.  The early psychedelic rock track “You’re Gonna Miss Me” by the 13th Floor Elevators that I mentioned earlier is also on that album. 

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The debut single by the Electric Prunes is another winner called “Ain’t it Hard”; I don’t have their version, but the original version of “Ain’t it Hard” by the Gypsy Trips is on Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 1 and also the Pebbles, Volume 9 CD.  

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At about the same time as “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” by the Electric Prunes but on the opposite coast, a Bronx, New York band called Blues Magoos had a hit single with “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet” that reached #5 on the Billboard charts.  Almost immediately after the song’s original release, in February 1967, a British band called the Spectres released their own version of “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet”.  By the end of that year, the band had changed its name to the Status Quo (dropping “the” in 1969 to become Status Quo).  In January 1968, they released a psychedelic single of their own, “Pictures of Matchstick Men”, which was a #12 hit in the US and a #7 hit in the UK.  

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The accompanying album by Blues Magoos, Psychedelic Lollipop was one of the first albums to have “psychedelic” in the title.  I wound up ordering both Psychedelic Lollipop and the Electric Prunes’ first album, The Electric Prunes in the same order from Columbia Record Club, so that was my introduction to psychedelic rock. 

Despite the high profile of their two hit songs, the Electric Prunes had considerable turnover in their line-up and broke up by the end of the 1960’s; they remain somewhat mysterious to this day.  Blues Magoos hung in there a bit longer and returned to their roots as a blues rock band on their albums, Never Goin’ Back to Georgia and Gulf Coast Bound (both released in 1970).  By this point, singer-songwriter Eric Kaz had joined the band and was writing most of their music.  Blues Magoos broke up in 1972 but occasionally reforms for oldies concerts. 

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Anyway, the music is the hard part when doing psychedelic rock; for many would-be psychedelic rock bands, just about any lyrics will do, and the stranger the better.  I was planning to come up with some examples of those lyrics, but they were a little scarce on the Internet.  However, this excerpt from the Allmusic review by Todd Kristel of the Pebbles, Volume 3 LP actually does a better job of describing the songs than the lyrics themselves would: 

“This compilation features Higher Elevation’s ‘The Diamond Mine’, a showcase for the nonsense rambling of disc jockey Dave Diamond; Teddy & the Patches’ ‘Suzy Creamcheese’, which manages to rip off both Frank Zappa and ‘Louie Louie’; Crystal Chandlier’s ‘Suicidal Flowers’, which sounds like the Doors drenched in fuzz guitar; William Penn Fyve’s ‘Swami’, which is such a self-conscious attempt to evoke 1967 that it’s hard to believe it was actually released that year; Jefferson Handkerchief’s ‘I’m Allergic to Flowers’, which was presumably intended as a novelty song; Calico Wall’s ‘Flight Reaction’, a fascinating acid-damaged glimpse into the mind of a passenger who’s sitting in an airplane before takeoff and worrying about a possible crash; the Hogs’ (allegedly the Chocolate Watchband under a different name) ‘Loose Lip Sync Ship’, which consists of an instrumental passage that mutates into Zappa-influenced weirdness; the Driving Stupid’s ‘The Reality of (Air) Fried Borsk’ and ‘Horror Asparagus Stories’, which feature precisely the kind of grounded lyrics that you’d expect; the Third Bardo’s ‘Five Years Ahead of My Time’, a genuinely good number even though it doesn’t sound five minutes ahead of its time; [and] the Bees’ ‘Voices Green and Purple’, which made the Nuggets Box Set along with the Third Bardo song . . . ” 
 

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This month’s Under Appreciated Rock Band of the month is THE HUMAN ZOO, a band having numerous connections to a truly legendary band called the Human Expression, one of the garage rock and psychedelic rock bands where I wrote up the Wikipedia article many years back.  The Human Expression was from Orange County, California and formed in 1966.  The father of one of the bandmembers (who was also one of their songwriters), Jim Foster served as the band’s manager.  They released only three singles on Accent Records in 1966 and 1967, with “Optical Sound” being a regional hit.  The band had the opportunity to record “Born to be Wild” before Steppenwolf when they were presented with two demos from songwriter Mars Bonfire; bandleader Jim Quarles selected “Sweet Child of Nothingness” as the “A” side of their third single over the future 1968 hit song (and he has a point if you ask me).  

Two CD’s featuring the Human Expression and also solo recordings by Jim Quarles have been released by Cicadelic Records, Love at Psychedelic Velocity (1994) and The Human Expression & Other Psychedelic Groups (2000). The first CD is named after their best known song, “Love at Psychedelic Velocity” (actually more of a garage rock song that has remarkable changes in tempo), which is included on the Pebbles, Volume 10 LP and also the first Nuggets Box Set.  “Optical Sound” – whose title likely refers to synesthesia, when the human senses are sometimes scrambled during an LSD trip – actually appears on more than twice as many compilation albums.  

According to the website popsike.com, the original 45’s by the Human Expression are among the most valuable of any garage rock or psychedelic rock band, selling at auction on 15 occasions at prices above $1,250 (and as recently as July 2015), with “Optical Sound” bringing as much as $2,650 and “Love at Psychedelic Velocity” selling as high as $2,500.  

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The Human Zoo came from the same Orange County community (Westminster) as some of the bandmembers in the Human Expression.  The band was a sextet that was originally called the Circus.  Bandmembers were Jim Cunningham (lead vocals), Roy Young (lead vocals), John Luzadder (guitar), Larry Hanson (guitar, horn and keyboards), Bob Dalrymple (bass guitar), and Kim Vydaremy (drums). 

Jim Foster of the Human Expression discovered the group and also became the manager for the band, following in his father’s footsteps (he had managed the Human Expression); and he is the one who suggested that they change their name to the Human Zoo in 1969.  

The Human Zoo wrote all of their own material for the most part, with everyone except the drummer writing or cowriting at least one song.  Unlike the usual situation, where one bandmember does most of the songwriting, no one is shown as a songwriter on more than three of their eleven songs.  There are two other songwriters listed in the credits, Al Morettini and D. Leonards; they might be friends of the bandmembers or something, but they aren’t otherwise listed on the Internet. 

The band name could mean a lot of things, but there is a Wikipedia entry on “human zoo”, about zoos or other exhibitions that feature humans rather than other types of animals.  One variety is the freak show, which persists in carnivals and similar venues to this day.  P. T. Barnum had exhibited some humans in his circus shows in the 19th Century, most famously the conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker.  They were born in the Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand), leading to the common term for the condition, Siamese twins.  There was also a Twilight Zone episode featuring a human zoo on another planet. 

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A review of the Human Zoo album by It’s Psychedelic Baby has this glowing tribute:  “Parked in a musical zone owing a nudge and a wink to Vanilla Fudge, Jimi Hendrix, and Iron Butterfly, the Human Zoo perused and embodied the acid rock sounds of the day with insight and intent.  Bold and booming guitars interact with crunchy keyboards and potent drum fills, while the soul-informed vocals and harmonies occasionally echo those of the heavier side of Crazy Elephant or Pacific, Gas and Electric.” 

The promotional material by Bomp! Mailorder notes:  “The musical diversity [by the Human Zoo], once the cause of some people’s griping, is the record’s greatest asset in this age of one song downloadable wonderment.  The band had chops, could put together a really good song, and did so repeatedly on this sole album.  This replica LP edition is limited to 500 copies, which will last about as long is it is taking you to read this description . . . so please order quickly to avoid disappointment.” 

The Allmusic review by Mark Deming has this to say:  “While the Human Zoo could add a trippy edge to their songs (such as ‘I Don't Care No More’), they (at least as captured on this album) were at their best when they rocked out, and it’s on numbers like ‘Na-Na’ and ‘Funny’ that the Human Zoo really connect, while ‘Gonna Take Me a Ride’ and ‘Help Me’ reveal they weren’t bad with blue-eyed soul stuff, either.  The production is simple, but also captures the performances in a clean and natural fashion and is thankfully short on the studio trickery often inflicted on lesser-known psych acts. The recording seems to favor the band’s live sound, and if the Human Zoo sounded this tight on-stage, it’s hard to say why they didn’t attract greater notice at the time.” 

Their sole album, The Human Zoo came out in 1970 on Accent Records, the same label as the Human Expression.  Only a small number of copies were produced, with limited sales.  Accent might have anticipated that a major record company would pick up the album, but that didn’t happen.  Over the years, the album began to attract attention from psych fans, with the website popsike.com reporting that the original 1970 album sold several times in the early 2000’s for more than $300; one sealed copy of the album brought $900. 

Cicadelic Records released an exact reproduction of the album in 2010, using the original master tapes. 

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More recently, a heavy metal band from Germany took the name The Human Zoo (also a sextet as seen above), and there have been several albums with that name over the years.  None have any relation to the 1960’s garage rock band.  

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According to Allmusic, Larry Hanson, one of the bandmembers in the Human Zoo, later became part of the touring band with superstar country music band Alabama for 18 years and also performed on a few of their albums.  Larry Hanson is also listed as part of the backing band on several albums by the Texas Tenors.  

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FLASHBACK:  The Under Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for July 2013 – The Klubs 

The reissue of the album by the Klubs was named Album of the Year by Record Collector magazine.  Their penchant for dressing up in their girlfriends’ and sisters’ clothes during concerts inspired several members of the cross-dressing, proto-punk band New York Dolls, whose members included future punk legend Johnny Thunders and David Johansen, who later became known as Buster Poindexter.  Their story well illustrates how a relatively prominent rock band from a legendary musical center like Liverpool, England could nevertheless drop almost completely out of sight. 

YouTube has several songs by the Klubs.  This is the dreamy psychedelic “A” side of their only 45, “I Found the Sun”, and the band would be worth remembering for this song alone:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlS5vvs-KLE .  Another winner, “Can’t Ebenezer See My Mind?” has wyld lyrics in keeping with the title:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX5UxktFfQ8 .  This is the title song “Midnight Love Cycle” from their reissue album whose lyrics recall Tomorrow’s “My White Bicycle”:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NCBTHxWVWU . 

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PICTURE GALLERY:  The Under Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for July 2012 – Dead Hippie 

This is the band’s only album:

This is a photo of the band:

Here is a nice shot of Dead Hippie frontman Simon Smallwood:

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STORY OF THE MONTH:   “Lola” (from March 2013) 

Much as stand-up routines allow performers to say things that they would never get away with if spoken with a straight face – Larry the Cable Guy comes immediately to mind – offbeat popular music recordings have served over the years to introduce previously taboo subjects to the larger society.  One of the Kinks’ most popular recordings is their 1970 hit “Lola”; and from the very first line, it is clear that nothing is what it seems – “I met her in a club down in old Soho / Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry cola”.  Lola “walked like a woman and talked like a man” and – after dancing together “under electric candlelight” – “smiled and took me by the hand / And said dear boy I’m gonna make you a man”.