Psychedelic Stones

Bell flight fourteen, you now can land...

See you on Alder Boran...

We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!

Defining the period might be the subject of some debate, but I would offer that it begins with the release of Between The Buttons and ends with the release of the Jumpin' Jack Flash single. In studio sessions concluding in late 1966, The Rolling Stones completed their strongest pop effort yet "Between the Buttons" with the song Something Happened to Me Yesterday. Little did anyone know that this would be the beginning of a new course for the band. A foreshadowing of forays into drug use and the music that would somehow define these experiences. This scene was not new to Brian Jones (he was busted twice for drugs during the making of "Their Satanic Majesties Request"), but clearly for the rhythm and blues purest defining the music of the time with psychedelic phrasings would not have been to his liking. In fact, the "excuse" that was given for his leaving the band was the he was not seeing eye-to-eye with group members on the direction that the music was going in: "I want to play my kind of music, which is no longer Stones music". This would have been true in 1967, when the band shed Andrew Loog Oldham in favor of doing their own thing, but in 1969 his departure took place at the peak of their Delta Blues influence, and on the heels of "Beggars Banquet" and "Let It Bleed".

Some would say that "Their Satanic Majesties Request" (TSMR) was just a poor copy of the Beatles own adventure into the psychedelic on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", but this is not the case as the Stone's definition of psychedelic would be harsher and without the candy coated pop that would define the efforts of the Beatles own concept album. It was a pure form effort at psychedelica. In the mid Sixties this genre of music was gaining a great deal attention and to some extent popularity. Some of the pop psychedelic efforts of the time include:

The Byrds - Eight Miles High, December, 1965

The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction, September, 1966

Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?, May, 1967

The Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit, June, 1967

The Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense And Peppermints, October, 1967

Status Quo - Pictures of Matchstick Men, January, 1968

Eric Burdon & The Animals - Sky Pilot and Monterey, 1968

There was also a much "heavier" element to the Psychedelic music scene which is much more in line with the direction that Stones were going in at the time. A few notable examples:

The Electric Prunes - Get Me To The World On Time

Spirit - Dark Eyed Woman

KAK - Rain

Ultimate Spinach - Ego Trip

Nico - Little Sister, Evening of Light

H.P. Lovecraft - The White Ship

H.P. Lovecraft - Electrallentando: Maybe the inspiration for 2000 Light Years From Home!

Art - Supernatural Fairy Tails

Country Joe And The Fish - Section 43

"REQUESTANDREQUIRES"

(CR-24E)

Capricorn Records

Citadel (Take 1a) 1:24/Citadel (Take 1b) 1:02/Citadel (Take 1c) 0:23/Citadel (Take 1d) 0:42/Citadel (Take 1e)/Citadel (Take 1f) 0:42/Citadel (Take 2) 1:34/Citadel (Take 3) 1:02/Citadel (Take 4) 1:57/Citadel (Take 5a) 2:57/Citadel (Take 5b) 3:10/Citadel (Take 5c) 2:09/Citadel (Take 5d) 1:03/Citadel (Take 5e) 0:55/Citadel (Take 6) 0:56/Citadel (Take 7) 0:34/Citadel (Take 8) 4:28/Citadel (Take 9) 0:45/Citadel (Take 10) 1:27/Citadel (Take 11) 0:35/Citadel (Take 12) 0:28/Citadel (Take 13) 0:27/Citadel (Take 14) 0:15/Citadel (Take 16) 1:26/Citadel (Take 17) 1:46/Citadel (Take 18) 2:17/Citadel (Take 19) 0:14/Citadel (Take 20) 0:22/Citadel (Take 21) 1:30/Citadel (Take 22) 0:34/Citadel (Take 23) 1:31/Citadel (Take 24) 4:01/Citadel (Overdub-Session) 3:37/In Another Land (Take 1) 3:31

Comments: The title of this CD continues to play on the wording of the British passport that originally inspired the Stones title for Their Satanic Majesties Request (TSMR). Twenty four takes of the Citadel plus an early instrumental take of In Another Land. An interesting evolution of one of the more obscure songs from the album.

"Time Trip Volume 4"

(SIAE.: RS-23-94-07)

Gold Standard

Dear Doctor 3:28 (Take 1)/No Expectations 2:47 (Alternate stereo take)/Sister Morphine 5:35(Alternate stereo take)/You Got The Silver 2:47/Gimme Shelter 4:18 (Keith Richards Vocal)/You Can't Always Get What You Want 6:41/Jumping Jack Flash 3:54 (A chorus only version with the finished backing track. Alternate versions of Jumpin' Jack Flash can also be heard on the "painted faces" promo video, which is the same version found on the classic Beautiful Delilah LP (TMQ: RS 507 A/B). The song first surfaced in primal instrumental form during the '68 Surrey Sessions, and two takes can be heard on the limited edition "1968 Surrey Rehearsals" LP (68-RSSR-ONE/TWO))/Child Of The Moon 3:11 (Backing vocals only)/The Citadel Sessions 5:49/Take 5 2:48/Take 8 3:24/Take 15, 16, 17 3:19/Take 24 3:18/In Another Session 3:20/We Love You 3:03 (Take 4) (An "electric" instrumental alternate in stereo. Absolutely Mind Blowing!)/Dandelion 1:58 a.k.a. Sometimes I Feel Blue Rough demo version. Keith on vocal!/19th Nervous Breakdown 3:52/Yesterday's Papers 2:05/Connection 2:12/It's All Over Now 3:27/Carol 4:02 (MSG, New York, 11/28/69 1st Show)

"Thee Satanic Sessions"

Only Cosmic Christmas fits the psychedelic theme. Other tracks fit into the time frame but are from sessions that are more closely related to Beggars Banquet.

TSMR has distinctive stereo separation that is used to take full advantage of this style of music. A few unsavory types have taken the single channel stereo from the standard release and split it into mono to produce different sounding tracks. This one has plenty of examples:

- Sing This All Together: Missing right channel vocals and the call and response effect of the chorus.

- The Lantern: Missing right channel electric guitar and electric effect after acoustic guitar lines. Makes the song more acoustic sounding.

- In Another Land #1: Missing right channel Jagger back-up vocal on the chorus. Keith's left channel backup vocal on the chorus is clearly heard towards the end of the song.

- In Another Land #2: Missing left channel wind blowing sequence and prominent Wyman vocal mix.

- She's a Rainbow: Missing right channel "ooh la la's".

- Citadel: Missing left channel vocal leaving only the instrumental backing track. There is no channel "bleed over" on the vocal.

- Gomper I: Beginning vocal section only, missing right channel bongos and bass lines

- Gomper II: Instrumental section of the song, missing left channel strings (presumably sitar) and leaving only right channel bongos and flute.

- 2000 Light Years From Home: Missing left channel vocal leaving an "instrumental demo". Again no bleed over on the vocal.

Clearly pressed from the same plates if not the same manufacturer. This has the Jagger and "friends" stage photo pictured in "Rolling Stones: An unauthorized biography in words, photographs, and music" David Dalton, 1972, Page 158.

Another source for The End's Shades of Orange and Loving Sacred Loving. These tracks are also on "Schoolboy Blues: The Unreleased Tracks Vol. 1" Living Legend (LLR-CD-052), the "Catfish" (Act 2) gold CD, and "Ultra Rare Trax" Vol. 3 and Vol. 5 CD's.

- 2000 Light Years From Home: A child's voice singing opens this one with boat sounds, wind blowing, and seagull sound effects. This is in mono, and the introduction segues from the sound bites to the opening musical lines of the track in a mixed and not spliced fashion, so this was done with some effort which gives it some credibility.

- The Lantern: A mono track missing right channel electric guitar...very suspicious

- In Another Land: This is unusual. There is a second melody going on in the song. It sounds similar to having the radio and TV going at the same time. It's not dissonant, but there's a noticeable undercurrent of sound. The track is in stereo, and the secondary melody is mixed into both channels.

- She's A Rainbow (Acid Version): A carnival calliope introduction with gun shooting effects and airplane sound effects in the left channel during the instrumental breaks in the song.

- Citadel: A mono instrumental...again suspect

- Sing This All Together: Announcers, crowd noises, cannons firing intro. This is in mono and missing left channel horns.

Several of the EP tracks have an "acetate sound" to them that could be legitimate experiments with different sorts of sound bites similar to what was used on the intro. of the TSMR version of She's A Rainbow.

A transition period. TSMR isn't my favorite album, but it does have it's moments.

Back To Lost Recordings

Back To Home Page